The Final Journey
by rantandrumour
Summary: They don't know it, but this case may very well be the last Alex ever works with the team at Fenchurch East. Can they solve the case before Alex has to leave forever? Galex, but angsty. Now rated M
1. Three Words, Three Murders

**So, now I'm going to be posting two stories at once! I was writing Revealing Hidden Truths when this story popped in my head and refused to let me write anything else. So, here you go. Thanks as always to Rolephant who knows how mad I truly am, but will not put me in a loony bin. (ahahah I already am...:P) **

**Chapter 1: Three Words, Three Murders**

_She had gone home alone that night. She had brushed off her boyfriend earlier in the night, needing time to be alone. It was a chilly night out, and she walked quickly to get home faster. Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her. She stopped, and so did the footsteps. She started up again, and she was certain she heard someone else's footsteps follow hers. _

_Her breathing heightened. Her pulse quickened. She felt fear pumping the adrenaline in her veins. The footsteps behind her were getting closer. She tried to run. Something caught her ankle and she tripped, sprawling onto the ground. She tried to get up, but he was already on top of her, holding his hand over her mouth, silencing her. She tried to bite him, but he seemed not to feel the pain as he pulled the knife out of his pocket. _

_The fear. The terror. The pain. Her body shrieked for oxygen, but she could get none. Suddenly she felt the cool blade of the knife pressed to her throat. _

_The fear. The terror. The pain. The last three things she could feel before her spirit left her body forever._

~(*)~

"What is the team going to say when we arrive together?" Alex Drake queried at her DCI.

"Well, Bolly," Gene said. "I'm assuming they'll be saying the exact same thing they've been saying since you arrived."

"What's that?"

"They'll be wondering whether or not we're sleeping together yet."

Alex looked at him, shocked. "What do you mean?"

"You mean you haven't heard the gossip?" asked Gene, amused. "For some strange reason CID thinks that you and me need to sleep together."

"I don't know where they would get an idea like that," Alex sniffed.

"Blame it all on Ray Carling, Bolls. He's got the dirtiest mind of the lot, and I think since the moment we had our first fight he's been waiting for us to shag."

"But why?!"

"You're the psychiatrist, Bolly. You tell me," Gene smirked. He was really only saying this to get a rise out of her, and it was working perfectly.

"Its psychologist," she said huffily, "and we wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't kicked my door down."

"It's not my fault! You didn't answer your door!"

"I don't usually, when I'm in the _shower_, Gene! Its rather difficult to hear someone knocking over the water!"

"And the singing," he grinned.

Alex blushed. "There is still absolutely no reason for you to go smashing my door down."

"What did you expect me to think, Bolly? There is a madman on the loose in London, and you stayed late at the station tonight. Then you didn't come to Luigi's."

"It's a Monday! I never come down on Mondays! You should know that by now. I've only been working here for a year."

"I'm sorry that I didn't note the date! It isn't my fault that trouble seems to follow you around everywhere you go!" His voice was rising, but he didn't care. This was what he loved about having Alex as his DI. He loved the "cut and thrust" of a good argument.

"For the last time, Gene, I don't need you to watch over me! I'll be fine on my own! This man isn't going to come after me!" She was yelling at him now, her face flushed in anger. Gene could hardly believe his luck. He had gotten her riled up twice in one night, and she was spending the night at his flat.

In the past month, two women had been raped and murdered in alleys around London. Both women were brunette, in their early thirties and posh. Gene tried to keep the thought that this described Bolly perfectly out of his head, but kept popping up at random moments, making him want to protect her more. Tonight, he had been worried about her when she didn't answer the door. He hadn't even stopped to think that she didn't hear it or was in the shower. All he could think of were the two women lying in the alleys, bodies stripped bare of clothing, and a slash of red across their throat. When she wasn't with him, he was convinced that she was out there, alone and dying, and he was letting her.

When he had crashed through the door, however, it was a different story. He entered to hear Alex singing, but that was abruptly stopped as she heard the crash of the door down to the floor. She had emerged from the bedroom a few moments later in a dressing gown with a bat in her hands, and it took a few seconds of dodging blows before Alex realised that it was only him. For the next ten minutes she yelled herself blue at him, and then went over to survey the door before yelling at him for another ten minutes. When she had finally exhausted her supply of excess oxygen, he told her to pack an overnight bag, because she wouldn't be staying in the flat until he got someone to fix the door the next day. She had put up a fight again, but eventually he won, driving Alex to his flat, and making up the rather comfortable couch for himself. They had said goodnight, Alex rather frostily, and both fell asleep quickly.

They were wakened a few hours later, however, by the shrill ringing of the phone. Gene answered it groggily, and yelled at Alex to get out of bed. She glowered at him as she emerged from the bedroom fully dressed a few moments later, but Gene had ignored it as they clambered into the Quattro. If she hadn't been with him, she still would have had to get up at two in the morning anyway.

Gene pulled up next to an alley and turned to Alex. "We're here, Lady Bolls."

~(*)~

Alex looked down in pity on brunette woman below her. It was clear that the attack had happened the same way as the previous two. Raped and murdered. This kind of case was the reason she had joined the police force in the first place. No woman should have to go through the pain and torture of rape. She had had a friend when she was a child who had been assaulted sexually. Her friend had never recovered after that, eventually committing suicide out of shame and guilt.

That was a reason she had become a psychologist as well. Alex had always like to know what made people tick, and losing her friend had been almost unbearable. She wished she had known more to help her friend during that time, but Alex had only been fourteen, full of young crushes and too concerned about her mascara to help her friend when she needed it most. It was when her friend had died that Alex had hardened herself off completely to the world, becoming a psychologist to wade through all the shit that people did to each other, to find out why. Only two men had ever broken the exterior she had place around herself. One had broken her heart, causing it to increase tenfold, making hard work for the man that had come later. Slowly though, he chipped away at the barrier, without even realising it.

Gene walked up and stood behind her. "Her clothes were found in a heap next to her body. No identification of course. There wasn't a purse or wallet or anything."

Alex tried to get her thoughts under control. "She may not have been reported missing yet. If she had just gone missing last night, then no one may have noticed she was gone."

"Yes, thank you Bolls," Gene said sarcastically. "I did realise this, after the other two happened the exact same way."

"Sorry, Guv. I'm just trying to work this out."

"Building a profile?" he asked.

"Yes. What kind of a man would do something like this to a woman?"

"That's simple, Bolly. A cruel, twisted one. One that deserves prison more than anyone else in the world."

"Its just not right!"

"Nothing in this world is, Bolls. You sure you're okay to work on this case?"

"Yes," she snapped. "Just because I'm a woman does not mean that I'm more affected by this than you. So you can stop your chauvinistic sexism, Gene Hunt!"

"Good God Bolly. I know you didn't get much sleep, but calm down."

She glowered at him. "Right," he said. "I'm taking you home. We'll talk to the morgue in the morning."

Alex got into the Quattro, and Gene sped off into the night.

~(*)~

"_I don't understand. Why can't anyone hear me? Who are you? Why do you keep appearing?"_

Alex woke with a start. There was a woman at the end of the bed. She was a brunette with deep blue eyes, which were currently full of fear. The woman from the alley tonight.

"Hello?" Alex whispered to the woman. Was she just dreaming? Or was she having some kind of hallucination?"

The woman started, and looked directly at Alex.

"You can see me?"

"Yeah. But I shouldn't be able to."

"What do you mean?" The woman looked surprised.

"I mean, you're dead. I shouldn't be seeing you in front of me." Alex knew that this had to be some sort of dream. Otherwise Gene would be coming in from his sofa, demanding why she woke him up whilst talking to no one.

"But, I woke back up. I remember him, on top of me, and then it all went black. But then I woke up, and he was gone. I was fine! I _am _fine! Look at me!"

"I'm really, really sorry," Alex said, knowing that the woman was in a fragile state of mind. "He finished it."

"You mean I ended up like the other two?" the woman asked, her face full of revulsion and horror and her voice shaking. "Lying naked in an alley, just waiting for someone to find me?"

Alex nodded sadly. "I'm really sorry. I know it shouldn't have ended like that. But we're going to find this man."

"I don't believe you! How can you see me? If I'm dead, how can you see me?" Her voice was growing higher as the fear came to the forefront of her subconscious.

"I don't know. I don't know how any of this works. I don't know why I can see you. But I can assure you, you're dead."

Alex was trying to break the news as kindly as possible. She knew that the woman was in denial, but it still made no sense. Why could she see her? What was going on? She tried to persuade herself she was dreaming, but something was preventing her from believing it. She knew something like this could never happen, the logical part of brain wouldn't let her believe in this. However, she other part of her brain knew that if she could go back to the eighties from 2008 then seeing a dead person would be perfectly acceptable. She may very well be dead herself in 2008.

The woman looked as if she might cry. Alex had to find out her name. Gene may not believe her, but they could be one step closer to finding out who the killer was. The more Alex thought about it, the more she realised, this woman could help her solve the murder.

"Okay," Alex said softly. "Just calm down. First off, can you tell me what your name is?"

"Bolly."

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Bolly. Who the bloody hell are you talking to?"

Alex blinked, and the woman disappeared from her vision, replaced by the sleep-ruffled figure of Gene Hunt.

"Earth to Bolls."

"Gene?"

"Who the hell were you talking to?"

Alex looked around the room. The woman was nowhere to be seen. "Erm..."

"Have you gone more fruitcake-y on me than usual? God, you really do need more sleep. Take the morning off or something."

"No, Gene I'm fine. Just sleep talking." Gene frowned.

"With your eyes wide open?"

Alex could say nothing back. "What time is it?"

"Just gone seven. Go back to sleep. You can come in this afternoon."

"No. I'm coming in when you do."

"Can't get enough can you?" Alex smiled and Gene exited the bedroom, leaving her to get ready.

**TBC!!!! :) Reviews are always appreciated**


	2. Loup, Lykos, Ookami, Wolf, Hunt

**Just a note, this is going completely AU from Series 2. :) (Because if i did include any of series two, I'd end up writing yet another angsty Post S2E8 fic, and I think I've done enough of those for the time being.) Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! Thanks to Rolephant as always! Also thanks to Facebook, for creating a group that sounds like something Gene Hunt would say, and giving me an awesome line!  
**

**Chapter 2: Loup, Lykos, Ookami, Wolf, Hunt  
**

They stood in the morgue, waiting for the technician to come in. Gene had yelled at her only an hour after they had arrived to go down to the morgue with him.

"Three in a month. Three in a god damn month, Bolls. The journalists are going to be all over us, and they're going to send the city of London into terror."

"They already have."

"And then they'll blame the police. But we have no leads. And all we can do is sit and wait until the next woman comes along."

"Maybe we'll get some leads on this one Guv," she said quietly. She was still a bit freaked out over the woman she had seen this morning.

"What's wrong with you Bollinger Knickers? You're rather quiet today."

"Just thinking"

"Oh God," said Gene, rolling his eyes. "Thinking is worse than talking! C'mon Bolls! Yap at me! If you don't God only knows what you'll come out with next!"

Alex turned to snap at him, but at that moment, the morgue technician walked into the room. "What happened to her?" Gene snapped quickly, before Alex was able to say anything.

The technician pulled down the sheet covering the woman's face. Alex didn't know why, but she had always found this man slightly creepy. Maybe it was because he dealt with dead people for a living, but she had never quite liked him. Besides his creepy demeanour, his physical appearance didn't help any. He was a shade to thin, quite pale with black hair, and had a deep voice that didn't seem like it belonged to him.

"This case is very similar to the other two we are currently dealing with," he said. Alex looked at sadly at the face of the woman. She had long brunette hair, and her skin would have been pale even before death. She was slender, and Alex guessed that she was in her early thirties.

"The cause of death was her trachea being cut open," the technician said. "Just as in the other two murders, it looks as though a normal knife was used to do this, not a kitchen knife or anything of the sort. The edge is clean, so it wouldn't be serrated. It is a very good guess that it is some sort of hunting knife. Before she was killed, however, it seems as though she had been knocked into some level of unconsciousness. There is a laceration on the back of her head that shows it was knocked upon the ground, possibly to force her into submission like the other two women. There is the usual slight bruise over her mouth, where he probably held it tightly so that she wasn't able to scream. And finally, just like the other two, he raped her just before he killed her."

Gene stared at the body angrily. Alex knew that he hated cases like this, he hated for the killer to get away. Gene Hunt had an odd moral compass, but all of his morals were strongly opinionated.

"We've got to catch this bloke, Bolls. Before he strikes again. The press are having a field day already, and I don't want to make it worse! I want this man's scrotum handed over to me on a silver platter!"

Gene stormed out of the room, and Alex followed quietly, still wondering why she had seen what she had that morning, and reflecting on what had happened later.

It had been an odd experience, getting ready in Gene's room and bathroom when she knew he was in the other room waiting for her to finish. There had been an odd tightness of excitement in her stomach the entire time. She had never experienced getting ready with Gene in the same place of residence before. Every time he spent the night at hers after too much alcohol the night before, he was up and gone long before she had stirred.

Halfway through her makeup, she had smelled bacon cooking. When she had finished, she had come out curiously, to see Gene standing over a pan of sizzling bacon and cracking eggs open. It was so domestic, so unlike Gene Hunt, that Alex couldn't help but stifle, even though she knew that he had to eat somehow. He gave her a long look.

"I don't usually do a fry up on a weekday, but since I broke your door down..."

Gene Hunt was apologising. She smiled and he continued.

"Besides you need to get some meat on that scrawny arse of yours! You're wasting away to nothing eating that rabbit food, Bolls."

He gave her a plate of steaming bacon and eggs and toast and she started eating. It was surprisingly good. Alex couldn't believe it. Gene Hunt could _cook._

After breakfast, he drove them to work in his usual high risk manner, squealing the tyres as he skidded to a stop.

Now they were sitting in CID, trying to make connections, and trying to figure out the killer.

"What do we have?" Alex asked the room.

"They're all posh," Ray said, his mouth full.

"Yes, Ray. Thank you. Anything else?"

The room was silent. At the moment, the doors to CID swung open, and Viv led in a distressed looking man.

"This man would like to report a missing woman," Viv said.

CID looked up immediately. Alex took control of the situation, as Gene's door was closed. She walked up to the man.

"I'm DI Alex Drake," she said kindly. "I'll take you in to see our Guv." He nodded, and Alex knocked and entered Gene's office.

She looked at him pointedly before speaking. "This man would like to report a missing woman, Guv."

Gene gave her an expression that showed exactly what she had been feeling a moment before, before looking at the man next to her. "First off, what's your name?"

"I'm Sean Grey. My girlfriend, she didn't come over this morning, so I went to her flat, and she wasn't there. It was clear she hadn't been there all night."

"Can you describe what she looks like, Mr. Grey?"

"She's got long brown hair, dark blue eyes. She's a bit shorter than your DI."

"What was she wearing?

"A nice blouse and skirt, we were at a party last night, and she got annoyed with me. She went home by herself. And then she was supposed to call, but she didn't."

"What was her name?" Alex asked.

"Sarah Evans."

"Do you have a picture of her?" Gene asked. Alex knew what he was thinking. Was Sarah the girl on the slab down in the morgue?

"Erm, yeah," Sean said, rummaging through his breast pocket. He pulled out a photo, holding it up for the two detectives to see.

Alex and Gene looked at each other. This was the point where they hated the job.

"Mr. Grey," Alex said in her most sympathetic voice. "We think we have found Sarah."

Comprehension filled Sean's face, and a quivering hand moved up to his mouth. "Found? As in her body?"

"We don't know for sure. We need you to identify the body."

Sean nodded, and they led him out of CID.

~(*)~

Alex walked into the women's a few hours later only to be stopped dead in her tracks. Sarah was standing in front of her worriedly.

"Can you see me now?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Alex, slightly convinced she was going mad.

"I've been following you around all day. I saw Sean, but he couldn't see me," she said, tears forming in her eyes. "He was so sad, and I couldn't comfort him!"

"It's not your fault," Alex said, trying to comfort the woman.

"I don't get it! Why can't he see me, and yet you can? I don't even know you!" she wailed.

"I don't know, Sarah. Maybe you're here to help us solve the case. You can tell us what the attacker looks like."

Sarah looked at her, and then down at the floor. "I can't."

"What?"

"I can't help. Something is telling me that you have to solve it on your own."

"Then why are you here?" Alex was getting frustrated. They were getting nowhere fast.

"_I don't know!"_ Sarah said, exasperated. "Maybe I'm a warning!"

"I don't understand."

"The man who did this is still out there. I'm a reminder of what he's done. I remind you, and then in turn the Met, how badly you need to catch this man. If you don't, there's going to be another woman to end up like me. It could be my best mate. Could be your best mate. Could be that typist of yours, Shaz I think you called her. Could be you," she said pointedly. "This man doesn't care who he kills. The brunette and posh is all just a coincidence I feel. He sees a woman he likes, and he takes her."

"But how is three women being posh and brunette _just _a coincidence?"

"It's not the being posh we have in common, DI Drake. It's the wolf."

"The wolf? I don't understand."

"That's the only clue I can give you DI Drake. Watch out for the wolf."

"_Ma'am?"_ From a distance, Alex heard someone call to her. "Ma'am?"

Alex blinked and turned. Shaz was staring at her nervously. "You okay? You were just staring at the wall when I came in."

Alex shook her head. "Yeah, Shaz. I'm fine," she said, walking out, and running into the new DC.

"Sorry Randall," she said. He nodded at her, and moved on. Alex followed the black haired man into CID. DC Randall Wolfe had moved up from uniform only a month earlier. So far, he proved to be a good DC, and from what he had said, he had a stable family life. Still, Alex thought. Watch for the wolf?

She shook her head. It was too obvious to be him.

~(*)~

"I'm right Bolly! Admit it! You're wrong!"

"No, Guv. I _am _right on this!"

"You're wrong! So shut up, sit there in your wrongness, and be wrong while I show you how right I am!"

Alex glowered at Gene as he stood up. "OI!" he yelled, getting the attention of CID. "Bolly here thinks that men here prefer beer over scotch or whiskey. I however, say otherwise. Please raise your hand if you would rather have beer."

Not one single person in CID raised their hand. Gene sat down triumphantly. "See? Now drinks are on you. If you had just admitted you were wrong in the first place, you wouldn't have to buy all the drinks."

Alex rolled her eyes as Rodolfo, the new head waiter of Luigi's restaurant placed their food in front of them. "DI Drake, DCI Hunt," he said, putting the plates down in front of him before walking off.

"I don't like him," Gene said.

"You didn't like the last waiter Luigi had either. What was his name? Antonio."

"He was always eyeing you up!"

"I think I can handle a twenty-five year old leering at me, Gene. I just think it's that you don't like anyone but Luigi touching your food."

"No one else gets it right!" he pouted.

"Don't let Luigi hear you," she said. "He might think you actually appreciate him."

"Oi! Not so loud!" Gene hissed.

"Signorina Drake, Signore Hunt, how are your meals?" Luigi had come up behind Gene during their quiet conversation, and the sound of his voice caused Gene to jump nearly out of his chair.

"Christ Luigi! You do that any more often, and you can kiss every single officer here goodbye! They'll all be dead of heart attacks!"

"My apologies, Mr. Hunt."

"Your apologies," Gene muttered as the Italian walked off. "You can show your bloody apologies by getting better stuff than that rubbish you call the house wine. Doesn't matter though," he said, cheering up instantly. "You're buying, Bolly. Oi! Luigi! Bottle of your finest! And I don't mean the house rubbish! I mean the good stuff that you Mussolini brainwashed bastards haven't gotten your hands on!"

"Very funny Mr. Hunt," Luigi said over the din of the room. He returned a few moments later with a bottle of wine, pouring it out for the both of them.

"Good. Now go away."

"You ought to treat him better, you know," Alex said.

"Why is it that all you women do is nag?" Gene asked, swallowing a mouthful of wine. "Why can't you just get laryngitis or something and stop talking for about a week?"

"You'd miss my voice too much Gene Hunt," Alex said, smiling. "You'd be dancing with Luigi the day my voice came back."

"Not bloody likely," Gene shot back. "And just for that, you can buy everyone else a drink too!" He raised his voice on the last part of the sentence, and everyone cheered. Alex laughed, unaware that as they spoke, it was happening. She had not heard a voice from 2008, but soon, all too soon, she would leave CID forever, and this case would be her final journey.

* * *

A/N: Loup, Lykos, Ookami, and Hunt are all different forms of the word Wolf. They are French, Greek, Japanese and Estonian, respectively.

* * *

**TBC!!! Reviews are always appreciated!  
**


	3. Only A Matter of Time

**Thanks to you who have read and reviewed! Thanks to Rolephant!**

**Chapter 3: Only a Matter of Time**

"Two weeks. Two bloody weeks, and we've still got nothing." Alex stared at Gene as he spoke. His voice was flat, and a scotch was in his hand. He drained it in one gulp, and poured himself another, also pouring one out for her.

"The press are all over us, Bolly. We need to solve this case soon. But we have no leads."

Actually, they did have a lead, but Gene wouldn't be able to trust the source. How could she explain the wolf? Sarah appeared to her nearly every day, pleading with her to hurry up, to solve the case, but when questioned would say to watch out for the wolf. Alex was beginning to dread Sarah's visits, as every time she appeared, she would be more distressed.

Gene stared at the whiteboard through his office window, studying it. "What do they all have in common? They're all posh. They're all brunette. They're all women in their thirties. But none of them know each other. They didn't go shopping together. Didn't go to parties together. There has _got_ to be _more_ that we're just missing!"

"Should we call in their boyfriends, to ask them about their last movements?"

"There's another thing Bolls! None of them were married. All of them had boyfriends. None were engaged either. Posh, brunette, thirty-somethings. Unmarried. That still doesn't lead us in any way to a killer. Yeah, Bolly. Go call in their boyfriends, their families. We can interview them. See if there is anything else we are missing."

"See if they know the wolf," Alex muttered.

"The wolf?" Gene asked. "What the bloody hell does a wolf have to do with this?"

"Erm... sorry, Guv. I've just been thinking of the killer as a wolf."

"Why?" his face was confused.

"Dunno," Alex replied, knowing he'd stick her in the closest loony bin if she told him what she had been seeing for the past fortnight.

"That's bad, Bolly. If you don't know what's going on in that posh little brain of yours, there's little hope for the rest of us to understand."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Do you want me to get Chris or Ray to call any of the families?"

"No! The last thing we need is team Div arsing up another enquiry. If we get those families pissed off at us, we don't ever see them again. Then we'll never get a lead."

Alex nodded. Gene did have a fair point. Chris and Ray were okay coppers, but they lacked any common sense whatsoever. Sighing to herself, she set her empty glass on the shelves in his office and exited. Instead of going straight to her desk however, she decided to make herself a cup of tea. She could put a shot or three of vodka in it as well. She knew that today was not going to be a fun day.

Alex turned, and nearly slopped tea down herself in shock. Sarah was standing in front of her, tears of panic in her eyes.

"You've got to catch him, Alex! You've got to get the wolf! He's drawing closer on his prey! He's been hunting her down for the past fortnight, and he's going to catch her soon!"

"Sarah, do you know who it is? Do you know who the woman is?" Alex asked, worried.

"I don't, but I know he's drawing closer to her. I can feel it."

"How?"

"It's like I've developed some sort of connection with him. I know what he's planning, but I can't see to who. He knows her, somewhat. Alex, please. Catch the wolf."

Sarah faded from her view as the world went black around her. She opened her eyes, and was laying on a boat. But this wasn't right. Why was she looking at herself?

Her body lay still in the centre of the boat, a trail of blood showing from the wound in her head. People were rushing onto the boat, but it was fading from her view already.

"_We've found her. We found DI Alex Drake," _one voice announced.

"_Someone ring her family," _said another.

"_Check her pulse. Is she still breathing?" _a third voice called.

"_This is Layton's boat. Now we just need to find Layton," _the first voice said.

Then the voices faded completely, and Alex's world went immediately to black.

~(*)~

"_Alex." _Alex heard the voice as if from a distance. She couldn't place it.

"_C'mon, wake up."_ The words were getting clearer now. Was she going back to 2008 now? They'd found her!

"Bolly. You've been out for a good fifteen minutes. Stop sleeping on the job and wake up!"

Alex opened her eyes slowly. She was staring at the ceiling of the men's locker room. Gene was sitting across from her, arms folded and face pouting. "Bout bloody time," he muttered when she looked at him.

"What happened?" she asked quietly.

"Dunno. We heard an almighty crash from the canteen, and then DC Wolfe comes running out saying that you've fainted. Couldn't have you sitting in there, so I moved you into here. Been trying to get you to wake up since."

Alex sat up, feeling lightheaded.

"You okay to work?" Gene asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'll go out and interview the families again."

"No you're not. Not by yourself. Call them to come in."

Alex felt herself getting annoyed. For the past two weeks he wouldn't let her go anywhere by herself. She knew his reasons, but she wanted to go somewhere by herself for once. Just so she could think.

"Guv, I don't need Chris or Ray tailing me everywhere. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

"I don't care how big you are, Bolly. The fact of the matter is, you just fainted for no reason. I'm keeping an eye on you for the rest of the day. Make sure you don't take another funny turn."

Alex stood angrily, ignoring the feeling of light-headedness that this brought on. "Fine," she said coldly. "That's perfectly fine. I'll just go sit at my desk like a good little girl, yeah?"

"Bolls," Gene said, but it was too late. She was already out the door.

~(*)~

Gene sat, watching Alex as she talked to one of the families in the interview room. She was angry at him, she had been treating him coldly all day, but he stuck by what he said earlier. She may not think she needed someone watching her, but bad things happened when he wasn't there. Sometimes, bad things happened when he _was _there, as the vault in Edgehampton had proved. He had hated being there, watching her become vulnerable, able to do nothing about it. All he could do was hold her, and stare into her eyes as their oxygen slowly ran out.

Pulling her out of the cold store was even worse. Her body had been frozen, and no fog emerged from her mouth, proving that no breath had passed from her lips. He had checked her heart. Even that had been still. He remembered the fear coursing through his body as he laid her on the sofa in his attempt to revive her. She had been so still. That was what had unnerved him the most. Alex was so full of life, she was always moving, whether it was fidgeting with a pencil, or twisting a biro between her fingers. He had been afraid for those few moments that he would never hear her voice again, that he would never have another argument.

Then her eyes had opened as he was about to breathe life into her. Her hand was like ice as it reached up to hold his neck as she murmured something he didn't understand. When the rape and murders started happening, Gene's immediate fear was that the man would go for Alex. He did not think he could continue if Alex was no longer his DI. What would he do if she decided to transfer, like she was on about before the Price's had died? He could not lose another DI, another best friend without drinking himself to death.

Alex exited the interview room and looked at him, smiling. "I think I've found the link, Guv," she said excitedly.

"Good," Gene said. "What is it?"

"Parties." Gene stared at her.

"All posh people have parties, Bolly. Not exactly a link."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Guv, these people all had a party within a week of their death. And they all hired help. _The same company."_

Gene looked at her, excitement starting to show on his features. "Good God Bolly. This feels good. We may have a lead! Ring the company, and get the list of all the people who were help at those parties."

~(*)~

An hour later, Alex walked into his office. "They said that they had the list, but we had to pick it up."

"What is coming of the world these days, Bolly? No one wants to help the police anymore."

"I know, Guv. I bet it'll get worse in the future."

"I sure bloody hope not. Then we'll never solve crimes. Just like what'll happen if we go completely away from the old ways, like the super wants, like what Scarman wants. What happens then? London turns into more of a shithole than it already is," Gene ranted bitterly.

"Well, that cheered me up," Alex said sarcastically.

"Wasn't talking cheerfully Bolls. I was only speaking the truth. We got to be on our toes with this case Bolly. If we don't handle it right, we're all going to be split up. And then we're no use to anyone."

"Am I any use here?" Alex wondered out loud, yet quietly to herself. She was going to go home. They had found her! It was only a matter of time. However, there was the not so small matter of Gene to hurdle.

"Course you're useful Bolls. Where would I be without you waggling your arse in my direction every day? Without you constantly nagging me? Much less annoyed, but that's beside the matter."

Alex beamed. That was one of the nicest compliments she had heard him give out, and she knew he didn't give them out often, if ever.

"So don't you even dare think of transferring Bollinger Knickers, because if a transfer form shows up on my desk from you, I'll burn it up and then gag you for a week. Not being able to talk should be an adequate punishment for you. Course, you'll also owe me drinks for a month. And the rest of the team for a week."

"Guv," she said, before he could continue anymore, feeling guilty with every passing second. How could she tell him that she was going to go home to Molly? She searched her mind for what to say. Eventually, she gave up, and spoke again.

"Do you want to go get the papers now?"

"I'll pick them up tomorrow on my way to the station. Then your job for tomorrow morning is to go through them three times over."

Alex groaned inwardly. It was more bloody paperwork! On the outside, however, she just nodded. "Yes, Guv."

"Good. I'll see you at Luigi's tonight?"

"No," Alex said, suddenly turning cold. "I'd like some time without someone watching my every movement, so I'm going to stay up in my flat. Enjoy some time to myself."

Gene looked at her, before picking up his darts and starting to throw them at his board. "Whatever suits you, Sulky Knickers."

~(*)~

Alex headed out the doors of the station, relishing in the brisk air of the night.

"Alex."

Alex looked around, startled. Sarah appeared to her, but not as clearly as she had for the past fortnight.

"He's closing in on her," she said. "Expect a call tonight, Alex. You didn't find him in time."

"What? How do you know?"

"Like I said earlier, I can see what he's planning, when he's planning it, but not the person."

"Can you elaborate anymore on the wolf? Please," Alex pleaded. "Maybe then we can catch him in time!"

"It's already too late Alex. He moves in tonight. And no copper will stop him. And it's my time to move on. Tomorrow there will be another woman guiding the Met to find the wolf. You did try. But you weren't soon enough. Help that woman like you did me, okay? But now I have to go. Goodbye, Alex."

Sarah faded from her vision. Stunned, Alex sat on the stairs of the station. There was going to be another murder tonight, and she was powerless to stop it.

**TBC! Reviews are appreciated!**


	4. A Cruel End, A Black Wolf

**Thanks to Rolephant, who checked this chapter, encourages me in my doubt, and truly believes that I am as a harmless as a fluffy bunny on a sunny day when world peace has been declared.  
**

**Chapter 4: A Cruel End, A Black Wolf **

_She knew she shouldn't have walked home alone. He would be angry at her, if he knew. He had become so protective lately. She needed a night to herself. That's why she had stayed late at work. He could not watch her if he wasn't there. She knew that he was just being cautious, but she needed to breathe. He wasn't giving her two seconds to herself anymore. She knew it was mostly out of fear, fear of what would happen. The whole city was afraid of the man who was doing this. She had tried to convince him that she would be fine, but he never believed her. _

_It was growing cold. She sped up her pace, hoping to get back to her warm flat faster. Her heels sounded loudly on the ground. She didn't hear him behind her. She wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. She didn't know he was anywhere close until one of his hands covered her mouth, and the other grabbed her waist._

_She tried to scream, but his hand muffled the sound. She knew what was going to happen now. The only emotion she could feel was sheer panic. Suddenly, her attacker pulled her up against the wall, behind a skip. She heard someone's feet shuffling through the alley. She tried to scream but her oxygen supply had been cut off. _

_The footsteps started to recede, and all hopes of being saved had been dashed as her stomach fell. A car started up in the night. She heard the tyres squealing as the car left its spot. So close. She had been so close to being found. _

_She squirmed against the man's grip, but he just held her tighter and he forced her to the ground, pushing her onto her back. She fought against him with all her might, her nails clawing into his face, drawing blood. He hissed in pain._

"_Bitch!" Putting his full weight on her, he grabbed her wrists and yanked them above her head, but not before she had pulled out a fistful of his black hair._

_His dark eyes peered into her own, devoid of anything but evil. She moved underneath him, trying to squirm her way free, but he was too heavy, too strong. She tried to control the tears of fear and panic leaking from her eyes, but to no avail. She let out a muffled sob. She knew what was going to happen now, and she was powerless to stop it._

_Fear. Terror. Pain. Blackness._

_~(*)~_

Gene finished his drink and left Luigi's, heading towards the Quattro. It had been a quiet night in Luigi's. Mondays usually were. Even though Alex had said she would, he had hoped she wouldn't spend the night in her flat. She usually did on Mondays anyway, not wanting to get completely pissed with the team. He didn't blame her. He didn't like to either. He had toyed with the idea of going up to her flat, just to enjoy her company, but he remembered what had happened last time he'd gone up there. He also knew she was frustrated with him for not letting her have any time to herself lately. It wasn't his fault. After three rapes and murders, all of which involved posh, brunette women in their early thirties, he couldn't help but feel protective. He regretted agreeing to not having anyone following her anymore. He knew that trouble seemed to follow her.

The honest truth was, Gene was not sure if he could continue if Alex died. There were so many people in the world, and a great percentage of them were evil. Those people who did not care whose lives they destroyed, just needing to get what they wanted. Those evil people who only cared about themselves.

Gene opened the door to the Quattro, and stopped. He thought he heard a scream. It was muffled, but he was sure he heard it. He entered the alley and looked around carefully. There was nothing to be seen. The only thing here was a skip. Gene was certain he had heard the sound. However, the night was silent, convincing him that what he heard may have just been a trick of the wind.

He took one last careful look around and left, stepping into the Quattro and speeding off into the night.

~(*)~

_She woke with a start. She was still lying in the alley. She reached up and felt her head, where he had smashed it upon the ground. That was the last thing she could remember before the blackness had settled in. Strangely, her head didn't hurt at all. She wondered what was going on._

_She sat up, shivering in the cold, realising she was still dressed. Had he just left her then? She knew where she needed to go, the only place she wanted to be. She needed to find him, to sob into his shoulder no matter how uncomfortable it might make him feel. She got to her feet and ran, ran to his flat, the place she had only ever been to once. If he had not taken her home one night, she would have had to wait till the morning, or call him at his flat and wait for him to come. _

_She knew she couldn't wait. She needed him now. She ran through the vacant streets of London. The only sound she was able to hear was her heavy breathing as she ran faster and faster. Finally she reached his flat. She ran up the steps to his door, and knocked, shaking and panting._

_He didn't answer his door. She closed her eyes, and pressed her head to the wood, willing him to come. _

_She opened her eyes, and she was standing in his room. He was in his bed, sleeping soundly. She wondered how she got into his room. She couldn't remember. Maybe she had a concussion. She shook her head, still feeling no pain, and looked at him. She called his name, but he didn't respond. Was he drunk? It wasn't like him to get pissed on a Monday. She said his name louder._

_He still didn't stir. She screamed his name, but again, he took no notice of her. She didn't understand. Why was he not waking up? She should have woken up the whole block of flats by now! Why couldn't he hear her?_

_His phone rang. He woke to that, pulling the phone from the cradle and murmuring into it. His brow furrowed, and he jumped out of bed, swearing. She yelled his name, but he looked past her, not noticing her standing right in front of him. _

_It was then that she realised. The man_ had _finished the attack. She was dead._

_~(*)~_

He awoke to the sound of the phone ringing shrilly. Gene reached his hand out and pulled the phone to his ear.

"Hello," he said, voice still slurred with sleep.

"Guv," said Ray, his voice laced with grief. "You need to come over here. There's been another woman found."

"Shit," Gene swore into the phone. "Where is here Ray?"

"The alley across from Luigi's," Ray said.

Gene slammed the phone in the cradle. Strangely, as he got out of bed, he thought he heard someone calling his name. He looked around, but there was no one to be seen. Gene dressed quickly, out of his flat less than five minutes after his phone had rang. He ran down the stairs and jumped into the Quattro, cursing as he encountered the early morning traffic of London. He put his light on the car, sped across town to Luigi's, siren wailing. One thought niggled at the back of his mind. If the body was found across from Luigi's, Bolly should have already been there. Why wasn't she the one calling him? Another thought crossed his mind. He had heard a muffled scream last night, from that alley. He had shrugged it off as his mind playing tricks. Had he caused an innocent woman to die? There was no one back there last night as he looked around. He should have looked harder. Could he have prevented this if he had stayed there just a moment longer?

Full of grief, he screeched to a stop. Gene got out, and was promptly met by Ray. "Was there any identification?"

"Yeah. Found in her clothes. Not that there was any need," Ray said bitterly. He handed pushed something into Gene's hand, presumably the identification, but Gene didn't look down, already taking in the crime scene and noting that Alex wasn't there.

"Where's Drake?" he asked, disconcerted by her lack of appearance. Ray didn't answer. Gene continued to search, and was surprised by the dejected look of all the faces on the scene. Chris was wiping tears from his eyes.

Gene didn't understand what was going on. Why was everyone acting like this? And where was Drake? She should have been on scene immediately; this was right across from her flat! He saw a woman sitting on a crate next to the skip, her head in hands. She appeared to be crying, but it was difficult to tell, as her brunette hair covered her face. The woman looked like Bolly. He walked over to her, looking down. Her shoulders heaved; Gene knew she was clearly crying. He dreaded being asked to comfort her, but he knew it was his duty as a police officer to find everything out, and to help her. It was Bolly's job to do the comforting, but she wasn't here, and he knew that Ray and Chris would just make everything worse. No, now the responsibility was his.

"You alright, love?" he asked. She started, looking up at him, but her hair obscured her face.

"Guv?" Ray asked. Gene looked at Ray. "What are you doing?"

Gene looked back at the crate, ready to point out the woman who was so obviously in distress. She wasn't there. Gene looked around the crime scene but the woman was nowhere to be seen. Had he imagined that as well? Was he going mad?

Gene shook his head and walked to the centre of the crime scene, where a body was covered with a white sheet. "The body's already been covered?" Gene asked, confused. None of the other women had been covered up by the time he had gotten there.

"Dignity, Guv. It was difficult to look at. We had to cover her up."

"Ray, _what_ is going on?" Gene was beginning to get frustrated. There was something that no one was telling him, something that no one wanted to acknowledge. He _needed_ to know the facts. He'd have to fill Alex in on the details later. She'd ask questions like mad, needing to know every single detail. She had to build the psychological profile for this murderer, and she said she needed to know everything.

Ray looked at him, but didn't say anything. "Sergeant!" Gene yelled. "What the _bloody hell _is going on?!"

"Guv... just...just look at the identification."

Gene looked down at what Ray put in his hands. This was strange. It looked like a warrant card. Realisation dawned in the back of Gene's mind. He opened it, and looked down at the identification inside.

He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. Gene knelt by the body, removing the sheet from the woman's face.

Gene had always prided himself on the fact that he was not affected by things that affected ordinary coppers. Even when he was just starting as a young plod, he had had some strange sort of detachment from what was going on, but full realisation of what families would be feeling. He had the strongest stomach of anyone he knew, but when he looked down at the face of the woman under sheet, he could not keep the bile down. He vomited twice, unable to get her face out of his head, seeing it even when he closed his eyes.

Gene felt Ray behind him. "Guv, you okay?"

Gene vomited once more before straightening himself. When he finally spoke, his voice quavered, betraying the horror and revulsion that he felt, betraying the lump that had formed in his throat.

"We need to find the bastard who did this, _now_, Ray. We have to nail the man who could do this to Alex."

She was dead. Alex was dead, and he had ignored her cry for help. Gene sped off in the Quattro. For the first time in his life tears were running down his face, and he didn't care.

**To be continued  
**


	5. The Still and The Silent

**Thanks to you all who reviewed last time! Thanks to Rolephant! I don't own the characters of Ashes (unfortunately...) and I don't own the quotes by Shakespeare (but he can keep them...)**

**Chapter 5: The Still and the Silent  
**

"_Luigi, what do you think happens to the world when you're not in it anymore? Do you think it, you know, all just carries on? Or do you think everything disappears?"-Alex Drake _

Gene walked into a full CID an hour later. For the first time he could ever remember, CID was completely still. No one was fidgeting. There was no phone ringing, no sound of typewriter keys as Shaz typed away on some report. There was no hushed murmur that always happened when he demanded silence. In fact, if Gene hadn't known better, he would have sworn he had gone deaf. Everyone looked up as he walked in, everyone's face demanding answers.

Unfortunately, Gene had none. They were still no closer to catching this man than they had been the day before, and now their DI was dead.

Shaz was the first to speak. "Guv, what Chris said..."

"It's true, Shaz." God, he didn't want to make this announcement. He knew he had to; it was his duty as DCI of the group. He had to announce it to the whole of CID without breaking down, and at the moment Gene wasn't sure he'd be able to do that. He was shocked at the emotion that was pouring out of him. He tried to keep everything bottled up, let no one in, but this had been such a shock that he didn't think he could handle it. Gene took a deep breath, and swallowed the lump that was still in his throat.

"Last night, apparently on her way home from the station, DI Alex Drake was...was murdered." His voice started to wobble. He could not revert to his copper mode, the strange detachment he could feel from the case. It had gotten too personal. Gene stopped, and swallowed the lump once more.

"The attack seemed to be consistent with the other three women we have found so far." He could see the look in their eyes as they comprehended the full hell her life must have been in its last few moments. More than one man in the room had tears in his eyes, and Shaz was sobbing unashamedly.

"I want everyone to drop any case they are working on. We are all now working together on this case. I want everything reported to myself, or if I am not here, DS Carling or DC Skelton. Anything you tell Carling and Skelton will be reported immediately to me. I will have my radio on at all times. Shaz," he said suddenly.

"Yes Guv," she said, looking up, eyes still full of tears.

"I want you to get fresh batteries in each radio, and then another supply here." He turned his attention back to the group. "When you leave this station, I expect to know where you are going, and I expect you to have a radio and an extra set of batteries on you. We will not lose this collar because of shitty technology. Is that understood?"

"Yes Guv!" the station chorused back.

"Good," Gene said. "Let's catch the bastard who did this."

~(*)~

_She sat on the crate in the alley, watching as detectives arrived to investigate her body. She had no idea how she got here, but she seemed to have gone back in time. Ray was not yet here, Gene hadn't been called out of bed yet. _

_Plod was blocking the alley off from passersby. She didn't like this. Her body was just lying there, completely stripped of clothes. She wanted to cover herself up, but she knew that she couldn't. She would just have to wait until someone else would do that. _

_Ray pulled up outside the alley, and flashed his warrant card. The plod let him in, and as he looked down at her body, he let out a string of swear words. He grabbed the nearest uniformed officer. _

"_Get a sheet. Now. Cover her up."_

_The plod looked like he was going to protest._

"_NOW!" Ray screamed. The plod hurried off. Ray turned around until he came back with a stark white sheet to cover her up. He laid it over her, and Alex felt some relief as her body was finally covered. Chris arrived. _

"_What's going on Ray?" he asked. _

"_Another murder," Ray said quietly. Chris nodded, not understanding the quiet behind Ray's voice. "It...it was DI Drake."_

_Chris's jaw dropped. "No, mate. You must have got it wrong."_

"_You can check under the sheet if you want. And that's her jacket Chris," he said, pointing at the pile of clothes they had come to expect at every scene. Chris looked, and started to shake, trying to control his emotions. "I need you to stay here. I have to ring the Guv."_

_Ray walked off, and came back a few moments later. He and Chris stood there silently until the screeching of tyres was heard. Alex knew immediately that this was the Quattro. Ray disappeared, and when he came back with Gene, Gene was leading impatiently, and his eyes were already searching._

"_Where's Drake?" No one answered him. No one wanted to tell him. Alex immediately dissolved into tears. What would he think? He didn't know yet. It was her fault that she was murdered, if she hadn't insisted that she didn't need the protection; she wouldn't have walked home alone the night before. _

"_You alright, love?"his voice asked her. Alex looked up in shock. He could see her? What was going on? _

"_Guv? What are you doing?" Gene looked away from her towards Ray and then back to her. _

"_Gene," she whispered. He looked past her, confusion showing on his face. Could he not see her anymore? _

_Gene shook his head and walked to the centre of the crime scene, where her body was. "The body's already been covered?" Gene asked. His voice was full of confusion. Alex knew he would start getting angry in a moment. He didn't like to be confused._

"_Dignity, Guv. It was difficult to look at. We had to cover her up," Ray answered Gene. _

_Gene frowned. "Ray, what is going on?" She knew that the next time he spoke, he would be yelling._

_Ray still didn't answer. "Sergeant!" Gene yelled. "What the bloody hell is going on?!"_

"_Guv... just...just look at the identification." Ray's voice was pained. Alex didn't know her death would affect him like this. _

_Gene looked down. Alex hadn't even realised someone had rummaged through her jacket for the warrant card. She watched as the shock crossed his face, and then turned into denial. He knelt by the body, removing the sheet from her face. _

_Gene stumbled back, vomiting next to the skip, next to the crate she was sitting on. Unable to stop herself, she put a hand on his shoulder, one that he did not seem to be able to feel._

_Ray walked up behind him, understanding written on his face. "Guv, you okay?"_

_Gene vomited once more before straightening himself. Alex jumped off the crate to avoid the splatter. When he finally spoke, his voice quavered, betraying all the emotions he was feeling and sending Alex into tears again._

"_We need to find the bastard who did this, now, Ray. We have to nail the man who could do this to Alex."_

_She knew who it was. She could tell him. But he couldn't see her. She could describe him perfectly. She wanted to jump up and down yelling at him. But she knew he wouldn't hear her. Gene walked off the scene, and Alex heard the Quattro's tyres squealing once again._

_She had to help him, and she knew. That was the reason she was still here._

_~(*)~_

They stood in the morgue, none wanting to acknowledge the woman who was under the sheet. One of the morgue technicians walked into the room. No one spoke a word. Finally, Gene found his voice.

"What can you tell us?" he said quietly.

"She put up a fight," the technician said emotionlessly. "There was skin found underneath her nails, and blood on her fingertips. I'd say it's easier to find your man right now; he'll have two or three gashes on one of his cheeks. We also found a clump of hair in one of her hands. Your attacker will have black hair, short, with some styling product in it. I'd say he's probably younger, maybe a few years younger than your DC here."

Gene held his breath as the technician pulled the sheet over Alex's face down to her shoulders. She looked so pale. Her face was solemn, betraying none of the emotions that she must have felt the night before. The makeup had been wiped clean from her face, making her look plain but beautiful at the same time.

The blood had been cleared from her face and neck, showing clearly the line where the knife had crossed her throat, ending her life. Gene couldn't get over the fact of how still she was. She had always been fidgeting, playing with a pencil, or fiddling with a biro. Gene half expected her to move, getting up and laughing at them.

"You can see some bruising over her mouth. Just like the others, he held his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. The base of her skull is fractured, unlike the other three women, suggesting that the attack was more violent. This is possibly because she fought back, angering him." The technician pulled her arm out from under the sheet. "Inconsistent with the other three, there is significant bruising around her wrists, and the back of one of them is scraped. It appears that he forced them over her head after she scratched him. Also inconsistent is the time of death. Instead of being between one and two in the morning, this appears to have happened between eleven and midnight. I do, however, believe that this is the same man."

"Thank you," Gene said. The mortician nodded and left. "Chris, Ray, you two can go back to CID." They both looked at him anxiously, not knowing how he would deal with the death of yet another DI, let alone the rape and murder of the woman who had become his best friend. Eventually, however they left him alone in the morgue. The technician had not covered her face again, and Gene could not help but be transfixed at her face. He still looked for the quiver of movement, some sign that she was alive, even though he knew that it was impossible.

"Bolly," he whispered, brushing his fingers against her cold cheek.

"_Gene,"_ he heard her voice whisper back. Gene looked up, startled. He was really hearing things now. Why was his mind playing tricks on him so much lately? First it was the person shouting his name that morning, then the woman in the alley, and now, worst of all, hearing her voice. He didn't want to lose her voice, however, and if he had to go mad to hear her, he did not care.

"_I'm so sorry, Gene." _Sorry? Why was his mind making her sorry? It was his fault. He should have looked on all sides of the skip the night previous before driving off. He could have saved his Bolly, and caught the bastard in one fell swoop. Now however, they were hardly any closer to catching the murderer, and the best member of the team was gone.

Gene was amazed by her beauty, even in death. He was grimly reminded of the words Romeo had recited to Juliet in the tomb before he had killed himself.

_Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,  
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:  
Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet._

He smiled bitterly to himself. It was a hell of a time to turn into a romantic. Next thing he knew, he would be comparing her to a summer's day. But even as he joked morbidly to himself, he knew that Romeo's words were true. Death had come and taken her breath from her body, but could never destroy her beauty.

Gene couldn't look at her face anymore. She was too cold, too pale. There was none of Bolly's spirit in her body, and it physically hurt Gene to look at her. He reached for the sheet, and grabbed the end of it, preparing to cover her face once more.

Gene froze, however, when a warm hand covered his, preventing him from moving any further. He turned suddenly, and was staring at her. She was fully clothed, dressed in the outfit she had worn yesterday. Her hair was perfectly done, as was her makeup.

"Bolly," he whispered in disbelief.

Alex had tears in her eyes, her lip was quivering. "Don't say goodbye yet, Gene," she whispered. "Hang on for a few more weeks. Don't let me go."

He reached out, to stroke her cheek, to prove that this wasn't just another trick his mind was playing on him. His fingers got within inches, but then the technician came back into the morgue. Gene turned, dropping his hand down.

"I'm sorry," the technician said. "I forgot to cover her face back up." He covered it carefully, and exited once more. Gene turned to where Alex had been standing only moments ago, but she was gone.

"I won't let you go, Alex. I won't say goodbye. I promise." Gene exited the morgue, trying to control the wave of emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. Eventually, however, he gave up, and found the nearest closet, locking himself inside. Finally, he let the emotion pour out, and for the second time that day, Gene cried unashamedly.

**To be continued.**


	6. No Answers, No Thoughts, No Bolly

**Thank you for your reviews! Thanks as always to Rolephant!**

**Chapter 6: No Answers, No Thoughts, No Bolly**

He couldn't think. Everyone was looking at him for answers. They wanted to know where to find this man. But he didn't know. _He couldn't think_. All he wanted to do was stand by her, begging her to come back to them, begging her to get up, say it was all a joke.

And as Gene sat in the closet, he found himself wondering if this was some kind of joke that God was playing on him. He had always wanted to get close to Alex, ever since the first day she had arrived. Some days he wanted to more than others, like when she got him suspended, he didn't give a rat's arse whether he would see her the next day or not. But now, they were so close. She was his best mate. Why did he always have to become mates with the DI's that had to die tragically?! Wiping his eyes angrily, Gene swallowed the rest of his tears. He _would _catch this killer. He _would _catch the man who had murdered Bolly. Gene knew, he'd find this man, even if he died in the process.

~(*)~

_It was interesting, being in this world. She knew she didn't exist, but it still seemed like it. She was sitting in CID now. No one knew she was there. Although CID was never usually a flurry of activity, today all work had come to a complete standstill. Everyone sat, staring at a wall, or at their desk, or at the whiteboard which still held her scribbles. Alex knew that they were just in shock. She had become accepted in CID lately, but she hadn't realised how they would react if she left. Of course, she always expected that she would go back to 2008 if she left this world. Now she just seemed to be hovering. She was in some sort of in between world, as if something was keeping her here. And she knew what was. She had asked Gene to hold on, and he wasn't even thinking of letting go. Alex smiled sadly as she remembered what Gene had said to her only the night before._

"_Course you're useful Bolls. Where would I be without you waggling your arse in my direction every day? Without you constantly nagging me? Much less annoyed, but that's beside the matter. So don't you even dare think of transferring Bollinger Knickers, because if a transfer form shows up on my desk from you, I'll burn it up."_

_Poor Gene. Where was he now? Chris and Ray had returned nearly a quarter of an hour earlier. He wouldn't let her transfer, how would he be now, with her dead? Alex knew that she must be dead now in 2008. If she wasn't dead in 2008, then why was she still here? Unless she had to solve this case with Gene to get home to Molly. It would be difficult to say goodbye to him, she had known that from the moment she had started falling for him. How could she go back to living normally without the Manc Lion in her life?_

_Gene entered CID at that moment, the doors swinging wide at his entrance. Everyone looked up, and Alex was shocked to see that his eyes were red. Gene Hunt crying? Gene Hunt didn't cry! That was for soft southern nancies. He was the Manc Lion! He was fierce! How could he cry over her? _

_Gene said nothing as he walked over to the whiteboard. He began another column next to the other three. On the top he labelled it "_Alex Drake". _Underneath that, he began to write similarities and differences in the murders._

"Brunette, Posh, Early 30's, Unmarried, No Boyfriend, Raped, Cause of Death: Neck cut open."

_He then started another column._

"Attacker,"_ he wrote. _"Black short hair, younger than Chris, probable bald spot from hair being pulled out, gashes on one cheek, 2 or 3." _He turned to the rest of CID._

"_This is what we have," Gene said flatly. "There's only one difference in the case, besides the attack being more violent. The only difference is that...DI Drake... had no boyfriend."_

_He had struggled over her name, she realised. He was having trouble getting it out. Did he really care about her that much?_

"_I expect us to have a lead by the end of tomorrow. We don't know when this bastard is going to strike next, and we don't want him to."_

_He glared at CID, pausing a moment longer on where Alex was sitting. Her stomach jumped. Could he see her? He seemed to be able to in the morgue. Then she realised, her heart falling, that she was sitting at her desk. He was just staring at her desk. _

"_We are working until late nights and early mornings until we solve this case," Gene said. "Until we catch this bastard, you are leaving at nine o'clock, and are expected back at seven thirty the next morning. If you get pissed at Luigi's and have a hangover, tough. You're coming in. There is NO excuse for not coming in unless you are hospitalised. Shaz will be bringing in food, so you can't complain that you're hungry. Do you understand?" He glowered at them, daring any one of them to groan. CID was still stone silent, just nodding in acknowledgement. _

"_Let's get those leads, boys. Let's solve this case for Alex."_

_~(*)~_

He slammed the door behind him, closing all the blinds that let him look into the office. Staring at her empty desk only made everything worse. Writing down her name on the board had been pure torture; he could not even look as he wrote it with his shaky hand. Gene felt the sadness disappearing from him, replaced by anger. Anger at himself, for being affected so badly, for not preventing it. Anger at her, for not believing his worry. But most of all, anger at the bastard who could do this, at the man who cared nothing of the women he murdered.

Gene stared at the wall. He had to find this man. The problem was, there were no leads! He was waiting for the results of the blood on her fingers, but there was nothing _now. _He wanted results now. Gene knew that he was going to immerse himself in his job now more than ever. It didn't matter though. There was still that hollow feeling, that ache that he knew would never disappear over time. Finding this man would not bring Alex back to life. He knew he had to come to terms with this. Her spirit was gone forever; the only thing left behind of her was the cold body on the slab downstairs.

At least with Sam, there had been no body. In some ways that had made it worse, but at least Gene didn't have to see him laid naked in an alleyway where anyone could find him. He had no idea what Alex must have been feeling last night. What had she gone through?

The thing that tortured him the most, however, was the fact that _he had heard her scream._ He had heard her scream in terror, and had just dismissed it, thinking it was a trick of the wind. He hadn't looked around properly! If he had, he would have found her. He would have caught the bastard at that moment, and then he would have held her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

Gene shook his head. She wouldn't cry. Alex had too hard of an exterior to cry in front of him. That was the thing he had noticed from the moment she had entered into his life. There was some kind of brick wall she had placed around herself, and she didn't let anyone in. He had always wanted to know what she hid in her posh brain, but now he would never find out. He had left her to die in the alley across from her flat. Alex was dead, and it was all his fault.

Gene reached down into his drawer and removed the bottle of whiskey. He reached for the tumbler, but it wasn't in its usual spot. Gene looked around the office, spotting it on the shelves that were next to his dartboard. There was another glass next to it. Gene stood, staring at the second glass. Her lipstick was on the rim of the tumbler. Gene shook his head. He really was going mad if he was staring at the lipstick on an empty glass of whiskey. However, he knew that he could not wash it. It was the last thing he had of her. Gene stowed the glass in his drawer, feeling like a fool the entire time.

However, if the glass had been in his hands when he looked up, it would have shattered. Alex stood in front of him. She was still wearing the outfit she had the night before, her dark skinny jeans, black boots, white leather jacket, and a blue top. It accented her blue makeup perfectly, and contrasted with her hazel eyes.

"You can't be here," Gene said in disbelief. However, he didn't want her to go. How could he see her? What kind of cruel experience was this? Twice in one day he had seen Alex, and he was steadily growing convinced that he was mad.

"I shouldn't be here," she replied, her voice completely conversational, yet extremely sad. "But I am. I have to stay."

"You can't be here," Gene repeated. He kept blinking, hoping that she would disappear, but she didn't. She just stood, staring at him sadly.

"You didn't act like this when you saw me in the morgue. What's happened in the past half hour?"

She couldn't be here! She was dead, cold, on a slab down in the morgue. He had seen her, he had felt her cold cheek, seen where the blade had ended her life.

"You're dead. You can't be here." He wanted to say something besides that simple phrase, but he couldn't. He couldn't get over the fact that she was here, standing in front of him. Maybe he _should _check into the loony bin he had so often recommended for Alex.

"I have to be, Guv," she said. "This was our case. I'm going to help you solve it."

"I'm going mad." Maybe, if he just ignored her, she would go away. But he didn't want her to go away! God why did this all have to be so complicated?! Gene rubbed his eyes, but she still wouldn't disappear.

"Gene, you're not going mad."

"What, then you just came back from the dead? Or did you fake it?"

"No. I'm still dead." She was tearing up. God, he hated it when the tears formed in her eyes. Why was he imagining her so distressed? Why couldn't he just see her happy and smiling?

"_Then how the hell are you standing in front of me?"_ Gene had always hated things he couldn't understand. He hated this most of all, out of everything he had ever experienced in his life. She looked down sadly.

"You don't believe me yet. That's okay. I didn't believe Sarah at first either. I'll see you later Gene."

She opened his door, and left, closing it sadly behind her. Gene was tempted to run after her. He didn't want her to leave. But he couldn't go mad until after this case was wrapped. Then he knew that his career as a DCI would be worthless, he didn't think he could stand becoming friends with yet another DI just to have them die on him. And there would be no one after Alex. She was his posh, mouthy tart, and she would always be the only one who could make his heart race.

Gene exited his office after her. CID looked up at him, faces all asking for answers he didn't have. Had they not seen her? She had walked through his door! However their faces were blank with grief and anger.

Gene stared at the board. Who had done it? What did Bolly have in common with the other three? Was this man just a serial rapist? Or did he know his victims? There were so many questions, and so few answers. And Gene knew he had to answer them soon, or else another woman would end up like Alex.

He surveyed the CID, only noting one missing face besides hers.

"Shaz?" he said.

"Yes, Guv?" she replied, voice hoarse.

"Someone called in today. Who was it?"

"Erm... DC Wolfe, Guv."

"Make sure he knows the new rules," Gene said. "I still expect him to be in at seven thirty."

"Yes Guv."

Gene retreated into his office, searching, hoping for answers to this problem. However, it didn't seem like answers would ever come.

"We're doing this for you, Bolly," he said to the air. "You won't be forgotten. I promise."

**To be continued...**


	7. The Words for Wolf

**Chapter 7: The Words For Wolf**

He hadn't moved from his chair in over six hours. It had been six hours since he let CID go for the night, but he had not moved a mere centimetre. Gene Hunt was deep in thought. Six hours spent thinking about how this could happen to her, blaming himself, wanting whiskey, but not wanting it at the same time. What could he do? How was he supposed to solve this case without his right hand man? Well, woman. Team Div was a major help, but it was Alex who had gotten the collars. She had used psychology, and solved the murders, even when Gene didn't want to listen to her.

Now she was dead. She couldn't help him any longer. Gene had spent the entire day wrapping his head around the fact that he would never see her walk through the doors of his CID again. Except... If he was going mad like he thought he was, then maybe he could see her. He could not bring himself to ask Chris or Ray if they had seen her walking through his office door earlier. He knew that they hadn't, and he knew the stares that he would get if he asked that question.

He was waiting for forensics. He needed the type of blood. Not that it mattered. They could hardly make a collar on blood type. Once again, the image of Alex in the alley flashed into his mind. He could not take it. Gene knew the only thing that had made the scene worse was that he knew the victim, but he felt weak. He had vomited three times on the scene and had to pull over once while driving. He had cried twice in the same day, a feat that had never happened before.

Now however, the sorrow had turned into anger. Gene had always transformed everything into anger, and taken it out while drinking. But he would not let himself touch his whiskey bottle. Gene did not want to get drunk, did not want to rest until this murderer was found.

Sighing, he finally stood, and looked at the clock. It was gone three. There was no point in going home now. The rest of the station was going to be here in only four and a half hours anyway. He moved through the dark CID to the front desk, where a pot of coffee was sitting. He knew he was going to be needing a lot of it until the killer was found. He was not going to get a restful night's sleep until Bolly's killer was behind bars with at least a life sentence on his hands. Gene did not want this man dead. He wanted him tortured, just like Alex was, just like the other three were before they died.

Gene walked back into CID, mug in hand, and sat on her desk, staring at the whiteboard, where the case was written out. This all pointed to the same man, but that man was avoiding police easily. It didn't make sense, all the DNA he was leaving at the scene. A stupid criminal.

Gene paused. Maybe he was leaving all the DNA because he had no previous? They had nothing to compare his DNA to? It would make sense. He stood, and wrote that underneath the column labelled _Attacker._

He sat back down and stared at the board. "You're making connections. Good." His heart stopped. It couldn't be her. He turned, and she was sitting there, her feet up on her desk.

"Alex," he whispered.

"You can see me now?" Her face was incredibly saddened, her eyes slightly desperate.

"Yeah," he said, no louder, thoroughly convinced that he had gone mad. "How are you here? _You're dead._"

"Strangely enough, I noticed that."

"Then how are you here?!"

"I don't know how it all works, Guv. But what I do know is that I've stayed behind for a reason. And that's to help you solve this. Then I can move on."

"Move on?"

"Go back. To my daughter. To 2008."

"Still talking all that nonsense?" Good God, his mind hallucinated very well. He could get used to this.

She smiled softly at him, but her eyes did not light up with the smile, like they used to. Her eyes stayed that desperate, fearful way. "You're one step closer to solving this case Gene. You're on the right track."

"The right track? We haven't got any bloody leads!"

She nodded to the whiteboard. "You've got all that right. You've described the wolf well."

"The wo... What the bloody hell does the wolf have to do with this?! You know why you named him that Drake!"

God, he was using her surname now. Like he did when he was pissed off at her before she died. His mind really was an amazing organ.

"The Wolf, Gene. When Sarah appeared to me after she died, she kept on about it. I didn't understand, except that he was her attacker. It all makes perfect sense now."

"You know who your attacker was?"

"Yes, but I can't tell you." She held up her hand as he started to protest. "It's your case to solve, Gene, and you have to work out all the clues. Besides, what would happen if you arrested the man on the basis of what I said? I'm dead, I can't offer you any clues. Just Wolf."

"But what does it mean?" He was getting frustrated, but she seemed not to notice. She stood from the desk and walked to the whiteboard.

_Wolf,_ she wrote. "You know, it's amazing how many different words there are for wolf?" she asked him. She started writing again.

"Lykos, that's that Grecian form of it. Then French, that'd be Loup. Hunt," she whispered. "That's Estonian."

"Okay Bolls, yes, but what does me having the same surname as the Estonian word for wolf have to do with anything?"

"Absolutely nothing. But what is important, is how many first names there are for wolf. Adolph, Ralph, Lowell, Randall, Rodolfo, Alf, Raul, Lyall."

Gene looked at the board, which was now covered in her handwriting, each word written under the column for the attacker. "I still do not see what this has to do with anything."

"That's all I can give you, Gene," she said sadly, eyes downcast. She sat back down at her desk.

"You said Sarah appeared to you before you died."

"In between her attack and...and mine, yes."

"So am I going insane?"

"Gene Hunt, you are as sane as you will ever be. Have you never believed in the existence of ghosts?"

"I can't really say I have, and I can't believe that you would either."

She smiled at him, but again, it didn't reach her desperate eyes. "I didn't. And then she appeared, that night at your flat. That was the first time I'd ever seen her, save for at the crime scene. She didn't understand what was going on. She argued with me over the fact that she wasn't dead. I finally got her to believe me, and had asked her her name when you asked who I was talking to."

Gene recalled this day with perfect clarity. He had woken extremely early to hear her talking in his room. He went into his room to see if she was just sleep talking, but to his surprise, she was wide awake, staring quite fixatedly at the wardrobe. He had called her name, and she blinked.

"What?" she had asked. He called her name again and asked her who she was talking to. It was then that she had given some crap lie about how she could sleep with her eyes open. He hadn't believed it, but he let her have her way.

Alex continued her story, snapping him back to attention. "Later that day, after her boyfriend came to identify her, she appeared to me again. She told me to watch out for the wolf, the one who was doing this. She only gave the clue about the wolf though. She wouldn't elaborate any further. I wonder if each person gets to elaborate more?"

"There's nothing more that's going to be elaborated then," Gene said determinedly. "We're not letting this happen again, Bolly."

"You have to. Otherwise, she'll appear. The one who is next in line."

"Do you know who it is?"

"I won't," she said sadly. "I only know the basest of his plans. I know for a fact, right now, there is no one that he is looking at."

"You mean he plans them?"

"Sarah told me that he had been circling for the entire two weeks between attacks. I don't know what he was doing. Possibly he was finding the opportune moment, figuring out my schedule."

"You were going home late though. How could he expect that?"

"I have no idea Gene," she responded. "I only know so much."

Gene rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This isn't right. This shouldn't have happened."

"The fact is, Gene," she said, tears in her eyes, "it did happen. There's nothing that dwelling on the fact that I'm dead is going to help. You've got to focus on catching this man."

"Catch this man, with no leads."

"There's always a lead, Guv. It's just a matter of finding it. And not manufacturing evidence to back up your instinct."

Gene looked down. "I didn't manufacture anything. You and that White bloke misinterpreted it."

"Again, Gene, that's all in the past. Right now, just... just live for the moment. Catch this man. Save countless women from ending up like me."

She stood, looking at the clock, then out the doors of CID. "They're coming in. I have to go."

"But, if you stay..."

"They won't be able to see me Gene. My soul can only appear to one. And it chose you. If I stay here, you'll look as mad as you currently think you are." She smiled sadly, and walked out of the office. He followed her, but when he turned the corner, she was gone. Gene retreated back to the office.

He stared at the board again, now covered in her handwriting, the various names and words for wolf. "Adolfo," he muttered. "Ralph, Lowell, Randall, Rodolfo, Alf, Raul, Lyall. Randall..."

Randall? Randall Wolfe? Could she have given him a clue that simple? That direct? If she was right, DC Wolfe's name literally meant wolf, wolf. Gene shook his head. It was never that simple. Besides, Wolfe was a copper. He had seemed completely honest, and Gene's gut instinct was not usually wrong. He had been right about Hollis, about Chas Cale, about nearly everything he could remember back to before Sam had entered his CID, before he had even become a DCI.

Exhaustion started to pull on him. He had been up for over twenty four hours already. It didn't matter. Gene had been awake for longer than this before. He'd just start hitting the coffee harder as the hours would wear on. Gene looked at the clock. It was just gone seven. People would be arriving soon. Or they better be, or he would personally ram his boot up their arse so far...

Gene shook his head. He shouldn't envision doing that to his team. Yes, he had imagined it on more than one occasion, especially when Chris couldn't catch on to a certain concept, but he knew he shouldn't. Alex would always...Alex had always gotten after him for it. Of course, he had once told Luigi that she should take a swan dive from the window. He hadn't meant it, but now he regretted everything he said like that to her, every time he had told her to shut her yap. He wasn't going to get to hear her voice in anymore, except in his madness. Although she had assured him several times during their conversation that he was not mad, he could not quite believe her. He had never had visions. Why would he start now?

Gene was distracted by the door opening. Ray walked in, followed by Chris and Shaz. They all had tired, early morning expressions on their faces, but there was no hint of complaint in their expression. Good. He didn't want to hear it.

"You been up all night, Guv?" Ray asked. Gene merely nodded, not taking his eyes off the board. He went into his office as the rest of CID filed in, all relatively quiet.

Gene had been sitting in his office for only a few moments before a dull murmur started in CID. It turned into an angry buzz, and soon there were the sounds of shouting. Gene exited, to see what was going on, but stopped in his tracks. Standing in the doorway with his black hair shaven off and a bandage on his cheek, stood DC Randall Wolfe.

**TBC**


	8. The Voice of The Fallen

**Thank you to Rolephant, as always, and thanks to those who reviewed!**

**Chapter 8: The Voice of the Fallen**

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Wolfe said worriedly for at least the fourth time. "My Katherine, she's four, she found my shaver and started shaving off my hair while I slept! I had to shave it else I'd look like a twat."

"And the bandage?" Gene asked disbelievingly.

"My cat," Wolfe said. "I was playing with him last night, and he went mad and scratched me."

"Right," said Ray, looking angrily at Wolfe. "And I suppose that your alibi for that night is that you were home alone, your wife went on holiday for a few days."

"No," said Wolfe quietly.

"Yeah? What is it then?"

"I _was _at home, but I was with my daughter," Wolfe said, glaring as Ray snorted. "My wife...she died during labour." Randall Wolfe stared at the ground.

"This is not looking very healthy, DC Wolfe," said Gene.

"Please, I didn't even know that Drake was dead until I walked in today! Granger just called me and told me that I had to be in early today! She didn't explain or anything! Honest!"

Gene stared into Wolfe's deep brown eyes. They were full of desperation, of pleading, begging for pity.

"Stick him in the cells, Ray. At least until the blood results come back." Something inside Gene was saying that this was not the right man. Wolfe just didn't seem like a murderer. He was a _copper_ for Christ's sake! Gene knew that the fact he was a copper didn't mean anything. If someone went bent, then sometimes, even murder would not stop them. Harry Woolf was an example of that.

Gene cursed. So many wolves! What kind of clue was that anyway?! A wolf, he thought to himself. What did a wolf have to do with anything?

He walked back into CID, and looked at the board. The names Alex had written on the board earlier were gone. Gene wished he had thought to write the list down, even if it meant he was completely mad.

"_Adolph,"_ he thought to himself. _"Then there was Randall...Ralph, Lowell...Alf...Raul?"_ Gene knew he was forgetting two names, but they were so odd, so differently spelt that he could not think of them. He sighed and walked into his office. It seemed like no progress had been made. He just could not see Wolfe as the killer.

"_It's too easy to accuse Wolfe. Alex didn't work like that. She would never tell me anything straight out. She'd make me work for it. Is that what she's doing now? Is she making me work for the true answer?"_

Gene hoped that her odd hint would lead him to the murderer fast. He could not have another woman go through what Bolly had experienced. Gene stared mournfully at her empty desk, trying to dispel the urge to go down to the morgue. It was mad, he knew, to stare at a dead body and hope that they would suddenly have life breathed back into them. But with the visions he had seen of Alex, maybe that meant he was mad. Then going to see her would be okay. Gene shook his head. He couldn't entertain these thoughts.

There was a knock at his door. Gene jumped, and nodded to Ray. Ray entered, and stood next to his desk, careful not to take the corner where Alex would always sit. It was like a shrine, and Gene knew that to the end of his days in policing, that corner would permanently stay cleared of all of the junk that overflowed his desk.

"I took him to the cells, Guv," said Ray.

"I dunno Ray. I don't think he did it. I know his alibi is complete shit, but..."

"Yeah. His body language didn't show that he was guilty at all," Ray answered unthinkingly.

Gene stared. It was Bolly, speaking to him through a middle aged Mancunian man's voice. "What?" Ray asked, realisation dawning on his face as he considered what he said. "I...I sat in a lot of interviews with her," he said quietly.

"She's rubbed off on you a bit," Gene murmured quietly.

"She rubbed off on all of us a bit, I think. Chris is thinking things through more, and Shaz could be a detective herself."

Gene stared at Ray again. "Are you becoming a poof? Never thought I'd hear you talk like that about a bird."

Ray smiled softly. "Yeah, but when you have to hang around with her to be with your best mate, then you start developing some sort of respect for them."

"Don't let Shaz hear you say that."

"Don't let her hear that I did. Better that she thinks the only thing I think about are tits."

"Why's that?"

"Cause then otherwise she'll try and pull me into some of the nancy things Chris does with her now."

Gene laughed, but it didn't feel like all of himself was in it. "Spoken like the true you, Raymondo."

Ray grinned and lit a fag before stepping back out into the office. The empty desk was like a hole in CID, drawing his attention in no matter how hard he tried to look away. Gene stood suddenly. He wanted to go for a drive. Anything to get out of the office for even a few moments. However, just as Gene was pulling on his jacket, Chris walked in.

"Forensic report, Guv. They've identified the blood type."

"About bloody time," Gene muttered with no real malice. He opened the report and Wolfe's personnel file. Gene looked at the blood type of the blood that was found on Alex's fingers. A negative. He looked at Wolfe's file, a let out a pent up breath of relief and disappointment. Wolfe was O positive. They hadn't caught the right man. The murderer was still out there.

~(*)~

Luigi's was quiet that night. The team had gone, but they weren't so loud, all weighed heavy in grief. Even Luigi seemed quieter than normal. Luckily, Gene hadn't had to tell the Italian what had happened. A few of the team had come by the night before to get pissed and told Luigi. Gene was just grateful that it was not him that had to tell the Italian. He didn't think he could say anything without losing the composure he had gained over the past couple days.

"Signore Hunt," Luigi said, serving Gene yet another whiskey. "You are drinking too much."

"You say that every bloody night," Gene growled.

"It's worse tonight Signore Hunt."

"Hmm, Luigi, I wonder bloody why!" Gene knew that he shouldn't be taking this all out on Luigi, but he couldn't help it. Who was this man to tell him how much he should be drinking? Gene had lost his best friend, again. He had been convinced last time that he would drink himself to death, but then Alex had come into his life. Now, Alex was gone, and he knew that absolutely no one could take her place. He would never allow another woman close to him like he did Alex; never find a picky pain like Sam. Gene knew that two people who were exactly alike were nonexistent. Even if he did find another picky pain, another posh woman, they wouldn't be the same as same as Alex. Gene would rather not find anyone like them anyway. They had both been so integral to his life, so different, and yet so similar, such a driving force, that he did not want the memory of them to be tainted by someone else.

At first, when he realised he had been falling in love with her, he was worried that she would replace Sam's spot in his life, so he had pushed her away. Then he realised that she was too different from Sam to be able to do that. He had finally started letting her in, and in return, her walls that she had placed had started to crumble. Their defences had grown lower with every passing night, and the urge to kiss her had gotten stronger and stronger. It was irresistible to look at her lips as they moved. Now he would never be able to see that again.

Gene threw back another whiskey, before standing up unsteadily. Instantly, a young man of about twenty five or twenty-six steadied him. His hair was black, and his eyes were almost the same colour.

"Who the hell are you?" Gene growled.

"I'm Raul," the man said. "I'm the new head waiter."

"What?" Gene asked. "Where the hell did Rodolfo go?"

Luigi, who had suddenly appeared and was pressing Gene upstairs spoke. "He quit on Friday, Signore Hunt. Raul applied on Monday."

"You hire quick, Luigi," Gene said. "You should make them wait."

"I'll keep that in mind next time, Signore Hunt," Luigi said, pressing him into a flat. Gene fell on the sofa and was unconscious before he even had a chance to look around.

_~(*)~_

"_Gene."_

He awoke with a start, certain that he had heard someone call his name. However, when he looked up, there was no one to be seen. It took Gene a moment to get his bearings. When he did he nearly roared in rage at what Luigi had done. Out of habit, Luigi had taken him to Alex's flat. He was sure that Luigi had not thought before putting Gene there, and that was the only thing that prevented Gene from finding the man and ripping him to shreds.

Nursing a hangover, he looked around the flat. Everything was same as he remembered. There was even a lipstick-stained wine glass set on top of papers on her table. Gene could almost see her, in her dressing gown and pyjamas, sitting in front of the sofa, television flickering softly as she brought her work home with her. Instantly, a wave of fresh emotions flared within.

He stood quickly, and bumped the table, knocking something off. Gene picked it up, laughing at himself as he did. It wasn't like she was going to care now, was it? He stopped as he looked at the object. A Dictaphone. Could he hear her voice again without it seeming as though he was going mad?

Gene rewound the tape and pressed play, almost letting out a shout of delight as her voice sounded around the room.

"_Twelve October, 1982,"_ her voice said. This was dated the Sunday night before...before it had happened, Gene realised.

"_Sarah is growing more desperate every time she sees me. She says the wolf is getting closer. I don't know who this wolf is. If I could figure it out, then this case would be solved. But the question is, how can I solve this case without the proper evidence and the words of a dead girl? I'd sound completely mad."_

She laughed on the tape.

"_God, I'm already completely mad, aren't I? Every day I see a dead girl appearing to me, telling me I have to find her killer. I wonder if this is some odd subconscious thing. Because I'm feeling guilty that we haven't gotten the killer, I'm imagining her wanting to help?"_

That was Bolly alright, always overanalysing everything. Gene smiled softly.

"_Gene would laugh if I brought this as evidence to him, so I just need to continue this sideline investigation. I wish we had some leads though. Gene's getting more agitated by the day, and I miss his more mellow self. I can't believe how close we've gotten over the past year. When I first stepped off that boat in to CID, believing myself to be quite mad, he seemed like such a dinosaur. How did Sam describe him? Something about an overweight, over-the-hill, homophobe, with a superiority complex, I believe. That does him no justice. I don't believe Gene to be old, and unless he's lost weight since Sam knew him, he's not overweight. He's not the skinniest bloke I've ever met, I'll say that, not even close to David Tennant, but it doesn't matter. He's... Anyway, he is a complete homophobe, and his superiority complex is larger than any other man I've ever seen."_

She sure knew how to compliment, Gene thought bitterly to himself. So he had wasted his time.

"_But that superiority complex, that homophobia, it draws me into him. The only reason I don't mind staying away from Molly is because of this man I could not stand when I first came here. Something about him has changed from that first day. I think it is possibly because he has let his barriers down a little, and I can tell, he has been working at mine. I think I've forgotten what it was like to be in love. Or quite possibly, I have never actually been in love. With Pete, it was some deep infatuation that we both shared, the lust for each other. It shouldn't have surprised me that he buggered off when she was only six months. There were no real boyfriends before Pete, and none really afterward. Who would want to get strapped down with a child? I never wanted them to meet Molly, to know about her, because I knew they'd run the moment they heard about her. She'd stay at Bryan and Marjorie's one night a week anyway, so it didn't raise questions when she went there. Eventually however, I'd tell them. I was too proud of my daughter to keep her quiet. And as I expected, they all buggered off, just like Pete did. However, I don't think Gene would do that. When he was with Donny, he acted like a loving parent would, treating the child humanely. I know that I would not mind having Gene meet Molly, as long as he could control his tongue. I wish someday I would be able to do that, even though I know never will be able to. I hope to find this killer soon, maybe then, Gene will relax again."_

The recording ended, and Gene stared at the Dictaphone. Had she really thought all that about him? He looked at the clock on the wall suddenly. Gone seven. He needed to get to work. Slipping the Dictaphone into his suit, Gene left the flat that still smelt of her perfume, knowing that he would keep that tape until the day he died.

**To Be Continued**


	9. All Hope is Lost Except that Glimmer

**Thanks to Rolephant, for something she does that I can't think of right now, and to all you who read and review!**

**Chapter 9: All Hope is Lost Except That Glimmer**

_He watched her walk out of the police station, arm in arm with her idiotic boyfriend. How could she stand that man? The wolf knew he was better than her boyfriend in every way. The wolf could not help but stare. The woman was beautiful, but not close to the beauty of Alex. The woman looked a lot like his girl. The woman had dark brown hair, almost black, and her eyes were exactly like the woman he loved eyes were. He continued to watch as they walked together toward the alley that Alex had gone home in that night, but then quickly changed their minds. He stared at her retreating figure. If he remembered right, her name was Shaz. And the wolf knew in that moment, he would have Shaz, just like Alex, just like the other women. He smiled evilly to himself. There was work to be done._

_~(*)~_

It had been a week since Alex had been murdered, and still they had no further leads. Gene was extremely frustrated. This man was going to strike again! They had to get him soon. Gene sighed. He knew that if they didn't have another lead soon, he'd have to put the station back to their regular hours, or else the super would start to hound him.

He walked into CID at half six. It was completely silent. Alex's desk still stood bare, the only thing that remained was the sign that held her name. The sign stood as a constant reminder of what they needed to do, along with the whiteboard that stood in the centre of the room.

Gene sighed and turned toward his office, almost grinning in excitement. He knew that he shouldn't look forward to seeing Alex, but he couldn't _not_ want to see her. She was sitting on the edge of his desk, in her spot, just waiting for him to enter. Tears were in her eyes. Gene sighed. She cried almost every time he saw her now. He felt bad but he couldn't bring himself to console her for some reason.

Gene entered his office, and she tried to wipe her tears away quickly. "What's going on Bolly?" he asked.

"Its...it's nothing."

"Is it about the case?"

"No." God she looked beautiful.

"What is it about then?" he asked her, truly concerned. Every time she had cried in front of him for the past week, it had been about the case. Frustration at her lack of ability to help and fear of someone else getting hurt had kept bringing tears to the surface of her eyes.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Bolly...Alex...what is it?" he asked quietly.

"Molly."

"You're worried because she doesn't know that you're..."

"No!" she wailed. "I thought dying here would send me to her! To 2008! To the life I had before! But it didn't! I'm _dead_ Gene! In every single sense of the word. I'm never going to be able to see my daughter again, I'm never going to get to blow out her birthday candles with her! I _promised, _Gene. I told her I would, and then...then I went to work, and got shot, and came here!" She was sobbing harder now. Gene really had no idea what she was talking about, but he knew that he had to do something all the same.

"How do you know you're dead there?" he asked, feeling even more mad than usual.

She looked at him, amazed. Gene figured it was because usually when she mentioned the future he just ignored her. But he didn't get to see Bolly anymore. He didn't get to hear her voice ranting and raving at him like it used to. He didn't get to flirt with her, to toss obscene jokes her way. He knew he was clinging on to this little bit of Alex he had left, and if that meant talking with her about her supposed life in 2008, then he would.

"What's going on, Bolly?"

She sniffed, and looked up questioningly at him. He nodded, as if to affirm the fact that he was truly concerned about what she was talking about. Finally she inhaled, and started to speak.

"I...was...shot," she started slowly. "In...2008." Gene merely nodded. He had heard this story in bits and pieces over the past year. He had merely credited to the slight madness she seemed to be plagued by. "I...I woke up here, and I thought to get back, I needed to die, like Sam did in 2006 to get back to you."

Gene frowned. Sam was involved in this madness? However, he said nothing, letting her continue.

"The day I was...it happened," she said quietly, "I fainted in the canteen." Gene nodded. Last Monday would be forever etched into his memory. His last day with Bolly. "Right before that, I had a...a vision. I was shot, on a boat, in 2008. I was on that boat, Gene," she whispered, "staring at myself. Then people came running onto the boat, yelling, but the world went black before I could hear much. Then, just a few moments ago, before I came here, I was standing in a morgue in 2008, and my godfather was identifying my body. My poor Molly," she finished, whispering.

Gene honestly had no idea what to say. How was he supposed to respond to this? This was complete madness, the thing he had loved about her when she was alive. Apparently, his vision of her had decided to include that madness as well.

Alex continued to sob from her perch on his desk. "Don't cry, Alex," he said quietly. "That's an order," he smiled.

She laughed a bit, but the tears continued to flow down her face. "Now you've done it Bolls, I'm going to have to put a comforting arm around you."

She looked at him. "You can't Gene. Nothing can touch me. I _can't feel_ anymore. All I know is this desperation, this fear, this sadness. Anything physical, I can't feel it. Not the wind on my face, or the desk below me."

"But you're sitting on it!" Gene protested.

"It's all an illusion type thing. Did you wonder why the handwriting on the board disappeared? Why when I move papers, they all sort themselves back out to what they were before? _I'm not really here._ I'm an illusion of life. I appear to breathe, I can walk and talk; but go to the morgue, feel my heart. It's not beating. The physical me is dead, Gene."

"But _I_ can feel you Alex," he said. "I felt your hand on mine in the morgue last week. Please," he said, this desperation an unknown feeling to him. "Let me hold you." He had to hold her. He never had when she was still alive; he had to now before she disappeared forever.

Alex stared at him and nodded. He approached her slowly, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her towards him, resting his chin on her head. "You're going to be fine, Alex."

"No I'm not, Gene," she whispered. "I'm dead. There's no cure for death. The question is, are you going to be okay?"

"I'm the Gene Genie," he said. "Of course I'll be okay." She laughed quietly, and Gene revelled in the feel of her warm body against his. However, he realised what she had been saying earlier. Gene felt no thump of her heart, no proof she was alive.

"_It's because she's not, Hunt," _he thought to himself. _"This is just your imagination." _He realised his shirt was growing wet as Alex cried into his shoulder.

"I _can't_ feel you Gene. I want to. But I can't. _It's not fair!" _

"Alex," he whispered softly, as if to a child. She looked up at him, face tear-stained and red.

"Let go of me Gene," she murmured. "I can't stand it anymore. Please. Let me go."

"I can't Alex," he responded just as quietly. "You said you'd stay through this case."

"But what good am I?" she yelled suddenly. "I'm dead! I'm no use to anyone!"

"You're helping me, Bolly," Gene said. She looked at him, confused. "If you hadn't shown up after... that day, I think I would have gone completely mad. Worse than I am now."

"You're not mad Gene," she said. "I've told you that."

"But I would tell myself that," he argued. "If I were completely mad, I'd be telling myself that I wasn't!"

"No, Gene," she said, staring straight at him. "Mad people don't question whether or not they're mad. They don't realise it. It seems perfectly normal to them. If it seemed normal to you that you were seeing me around every turn, then you would be. Does it seem normal?"

"No," he said firmly. "I know...I know you're dead, but you're still here."

"Exactly," she smiled sadly, before slipping from his arms and sitting back on her perch on his desk, watching as CID started filing in. Gene was amazed, he hadn't realised how much time had passed.

Gene sat down at his desk, watching Alex, waiting for her to disappear, but she didn't. "There's people here," Gene said. "You're not gonna leave?"

"Nah," she answered. "I want to watch you lot work."

"Not like there's going to be much going on," Gene said, watching as Shaz walked into the office with Chris. Alex suddenly stiffened. "What is it, Bolly?"

"He's found another one," she murmured, before turning to him eyes wide. "Gene! You have to find him!" she yelled. "You can't let him strike again!"

Gene stood suddenly, staring at her. "You're sure?"

"Yes. I can feel it. He's just starting his plan. It'll be a few days to a few weeks."

"Days?!" he yelped. "It could only be days?!"

"Gene, go with anything you have. Any lead. Anything! Stop him!"

"We don't have anything!" he replied, aware that if he screamed, CID would assume he was screaming to himself. "Look, at the board, Bolly. That's all we have. He's got a hunting knife, wounds that have probably healed by now, and black hair."

"You had something before I died," she said simply.

Gene thought back to the week before. It seemed like ages ago. What lead did they have?

"The party company?" he asked. "But that fell in on itself. You didn't have some posh party before you died."

"Guv. You are leading an investigation that hasn't had a lead in a week. I'd go back to square one. You know I'd be pestering you about doing that by now. And square one may just be the party company."

He gave her a long look, before opening his door. "Ray!" he yelled. "There's a party company, called Lupo's Catering. They were supposed to give us a list of their staff who worked at the parties for the first three women. Go fetch!"

Ray stood, and left. Alex looked at him with a small smile. "What is it Bolly?"

"Everything...it all means wolf!"

"What?"

"Lupo, that's Italian for wolf!"

"Are you telling me we're on the right track?" Gene asked, slightly frustrated.

"Dunno. Remember, even your surname means wolf. But this wolf...the wolf of evil..."

"You're rambling Bolly."

"I thought you liked that," she answered quickly.

"When I understand what you're rambling about." She laughed a small laugh and looked at him fondly. The desperation had not disappeared from her eyes, and her face was still stained from her earlier tears. Still, Gene thought she looked beautiful. "What do we do now?"

She perched herself on his desk for a third time that morning. "We wait," she replied simply.

~(*)~

Ray ran in nearly an hour later, a large stack of papers in his hands. "Staff lists of all three parties Guv," he said proudly.

"Good job Ray," Gene said, already looking down at the papers. "You didn't arse it up for once. Mush so I can work now." Ray nodded and left. Gene leaned over the three stacks, crossing out names that only appeared once or twice. Suddenly, halfway down the second page of each stack he stopped. Alex leaned in over him.

"Rodolfo di Cattivo," she murmured into his ear. "Literally translated, it means 'wolf of evil.'"

Gene grinned. They had a solid lead.

A?N Actually if google translate is right, though Cattivo does mean evil, di cattivo would mean bad. So Rodolfo's name would mean bad wolf, literally. Unfortunately, someone...*cough* Doctor Who *cough* had already taken this little plot device, so I changed it!

**TBC**


	10. Longing for Feeling

**Thanks to all of you who continue to read and review! Thanks to Rolephant and BohemianKillerQueen for being brilliant and coming up with awesome facebook statuses for me :D**

**Chapter 10: Longing for Feeling**

He tossed and turned, unable to get the image of Shaz out of his head. Her hair was not quite as long as Alessandra's, but it was the same colour, as were her eyes. Just like Alex, Rodolfo knew that God had sent her to him. He knew that it would be simple to get to her. She went to Luigi's every night after work with that idiot of a boyfriend of hers. Some nights, she would walk out alone, angry at him, at her workmates. It was only a matter of time until she and her boyfriend got into a fight. And when they did, Rodolfo knew he would be waiting.

He turned on a light, and looked fondly at the picture on his bedside table. It was Alessandra, looking as beautiful as she ever had. He knew from the moment that they had met that they were meant to be, and she seemed to feel the same way. Their parents had laughed, saying that teenage love never lasted, but it had, up until the day Alessandra had died. Rodolfo had been heartbroken, moving away from Italy, everything that reminded him of her.

That had all changed when he saw Alex. Alexandra. So close to Alessandra. Their bone structure was the same, and Rodolfo couldn't stand it. He had to have her.

There was a rustling sound outside of his room. He stopped thinking, just listening. There was another rustle. Rodolfo got up quietly, stepping into the kitchen of his small flat. A woman stood in his kitchen. Her dark hair laid in waves down to her shoulders, and her eyes were bright and brown.

"'Sandra?" he said quietly. The woman looked up at him, staring for a moment at him with distaste written on her face.

"Cattivo culo!" she spat at him, before walking out of the small flat.

"Alessandra!" he called after her, rushing her. It didn't matter. She had disappeared.

~(*)~

_She sat on the top of the station, just watching everything below, feeling completely detached. She could not feel the chill of the air, something she actually missed. She remembered that she had used to complain to Molly during the winter about how cold it was. Alex knew tears were welling in her eyes again. Molly. She had left her daughter behind. She couldn't forgive herself. She hadn't fought hard enough to get to Molly. Now she was dead, and after they had solved this case, she would be gone forever. _

_Alex stood on the edge of the roof, laughing to herself. It didn't matter if she jumped, did it? If she jumped, she'd just end up like she was. A ghost. Nothing. Only two people in this entire world could see her, and one of them she didn't want to appear to. She only wanted Gene, and wished she had done something before she had died. She had been too scared, and now she laughed at herself. She'd be alone forever now. After the case she knew that Gene would move on, he'd find another woman. He'd forget about her in a few years. She'd spend the rest of her afterlife alone. Alex stared down at the street so far below her. If she jumped now, it wouldn't be considered suicide, would it?_

_Alex smiled to herself. Maybe if she jumped, she could feel. She wouldn't feel her body splatter on the pavement, seeing as she had no body, but maybe she could feel the wind on her face, a chill in her bones, the rush of adrenaline. Alex's grin grew wider. There was no time like the present, wasn't that how the saying went?_

_Alex leaned, over the edge, feeling as her centre of gravity shifted, forcing her to fall from the roof. The pavement rushed to meet her._

_~(*)~_

Gene stared angrily at a sleepy and annoyed Luigi, who had been woken up by his insistent pounding.

Luigi had let him in the door, mumbling to himself. "You disturb me all hours of the night, and now in the morning, not letting me sleep at all. Want to get pissed once more, yes?"

"Shut it Luigi," Gene said.

"I'm not taking that from you. I'm not serving you so early. I'm not your waiter. I'm telling you to piss off."

"Luigi," Gene said angrily. _"Shut up. _This is about a case."

Luigi stopped grumbling immediately, looking up quickly at him. "What do I have to do with a case?"

Gene leaned forward and stared into the Italians brown eyes. "Rodolfo di Cattivo," Gene said. "Name ring any bells?"

"Rodolfo? He was my head waiter. What does that have to do with anything?"

"I have evidence that says he may be involved in the murder of... of Alex." Gene still had trouble getting her name out, even after a week. He knew he was not alone, however, when Luigi's eyes glistened slightly more than they had, and his face transformed into shock.

"Are you sure, Signore Hunt? Rodolfo killed the Signorina?"

"It looks that way, Luigi. Do you have his address?"

"Yes," Luigi whispered. "I didn't know, Signore Hunt. I didn't!"

"I'm not blaming you," Gene said honestly. "Just give me his address." Luigi nodded, and trudged into his back room. A few moments later, he came out with a paper. Gene looked at the paper and then to Luigi.

"Thank you," he said. Luigi just nodded as Gene turned. He started walking back toward the station by the fastest route, but stopped as soon as he entered the alley. Here was the spot that he had stood over a week ago, hearing Bolly's scream. He had ignored it, and caused her to die. The guilt still hung heavy over him. He looked down by the skip. The blood had already been washed away, all remnants of the evil attack cleared away. It was almost as if Alex Drake had not existed. Her desk was bare, and the flat was going to be emptied soon.

And then she would stop appearing. Gene would be completely left alone, with nothing but a photograph and a cassette tape to remember her by. And to the people who came in her place, in his place when he was either booted out or retired, they would never know who she was. They wouldn't know her name. Soon, the name Alexandra Drake would become a myth, a whisper maybe about the first DI in the MET, who was unable to save her own life.

And he would endure; in this shit he called life, completely alone.

Gene continued walking through the alley, trying to rid himself of the cloud of depression that had settled over him. He emerged from the alley, staring at the station, not wanting to go back in there, to see the void that now filled Alex's desk. Gene decided he would radio Ray and Chris to meet him at the Quattro. He had just raised the radio to his lips when someone on the roof caught his attention.

A person was leaning over the edge, too far. His instinct kicked in, and he ran to catch the person, even if it meant killing himself. As the person fell through the air, he realised the jacket she wore. A white jacket, just like Bolly's. Gene continued to run, but he could not get there in time. The woman landed on the pavement, but to his surprise, landed on her feet, an expression of surprise on her face.

"Drake! What the bloody hell?" Alex turned to him, surprise turning to disappointment.

"I still couldn't feel it, Gene," she said. "Absolutely nothing._ I want to feel!_"

Gene looked at her. He didn't want to feel. He wanted to rid himself of this anger, of this hurt, of the aching loneliness that had been growing larger by the day. He would willingly trade places with her. He longed to be dead, unable to feel.

"You're going mad Bolly," he said.

"You would be to," she retorted. "I'm unable to move on until I can sort this. And until I move on, I can't feel."

"Well, you may be in luck," Gene said. "We've got the address for Rodolfo."

She smiled at him, but the fear never quite left her eyes. "Get him, Guv. Go get the bastard."

"I will, Alex," he responded. "For you."

~(*)~

An hour later, they were sat outside a block of flats, just staring at the building. Chris and Ray took the back, there was a normal period where Ray was not allowed into the seat. Sam's spot had been left open until he had had the Audi imported. New car, no memories. Gene knew that he would have to trade in his Quattro as well. Maybe he'd get an Escort. He shook his head sadly. No, every time he'd get in he'd remember Bolly causing a riot at a poof parade by running a pink tank over one. How torn up she'd been when the Price's Escort had blown up. An Escort was out of the question.

Alex was sitting in her normal spot, unseen by Chris and Ray. She was staring at him quietly, seeming to be deep in thought. Gene nodded slightly at her, telling her to speak her mind.

"If you can prove its him," she started, "the case will be solved enough for me to move on." Gene's eyes flicked to her. He didn't want to lose her yet.

"I'll finally be able to move on," she smiled.

Gene fought the anger that rose in him. She couldn't leave! She couldn't leave him alone again! He tightened his grip on the wheel, only to relax it as Ray prodded him. "Erm Guv? Should we go get the bastard?"

Gene let out a deep breath and nodded. "Let's get him," he said. "For Bolly." They got out of the car quietly, none noticing as Alex opened and closed the passenger door to follow them. Gene looked at her, giving her an expression that told her quite clearly to stay put, but she just yelled back at him.

"He's already killed me. What more can he do? I'm coming with you Gene Hunt, and if you respond, you'll look like a madman."

Gene bit his cheek in frustration. He would look like a madman if he responded to her, and he couldn't look like he was falling apart in front of Chris and Ray. Gene looked back to where the Quattro was parked. A squad car had pulled up behind it and the plod in it were sat watching everything that went on. Gene swallowed, and started leading the team up the stairs, up to Rodolfo di Cattivo's flat.

They reached the fifth floor, all huffing, except for Alex, who did not seem to have taken them. She had explained how she moved through this world to him before, but it was so odd he'd rather not think about it. Gene had never liked things he didn't understand.

Gene shook his head to clear it of all thoughts but policing as they approached Rodolfo's flat.

"Rodolfo di Cattivo!" Gene announced clearly and loudly. "Police. Open up, before we open it up for you!" They waited several seconds, but no movement occurred. Gene stared at the closed door for a moment longer.

"Right," he said, noting that Bolly wasn't there anymore. He wished that she could actually physically open the door for him right now, as he figured she was in his flat. Gene looked at Ray and Chris, and backed up to the opposite side of the hall. He ran at the door, kicking it open, and drawing his gun out in one swift move. Gene entered the flat quickly, but barely got a look around as Alex screamed.

"Gene watch out!" There was the sound of a bullet and a pain in the back of his head, and Gene's world went black. The last thing he heard was Alex, sobbing.

"No, Gene. No."

**Please Note: This Fic WILL become an M rating with the next posting. This means it won't appear in normal search results.**

**TBC. **


	11. The Tragic End

**Please note the rating has changed due to the middle of this chapter. Thanks to Rolephant for reading a bit of this and telling me what she thinks!  
**

**Chapter 11: The Tragic End  
**

"Guv," said a frantic voice. "Guv!"

Gene was aware of a huge pain in the back of his head.

"Wake up Guv," said the voice. He placed it as Ray's. "We got the bastard, now give him a good punch!"

Gene groaned and opened his eyes. Alex was staring at him, looking worried, but slightly blurry.

"Good, Guv. You're coming round."

"What happened?" Gene asked.

"Bastard hit you with a pot. He was hiding behind the door. Chris shot at him, but above the head, to scare him." A pot. So that's why his head hurt so bad. Gene sat up, and Ray helped him to his feet. Chris was holding a young Italian man, who looked quite bored. His hair was starting to grow back on his bald head, and one could tell already that it was black. A moustache graced his lip, but it wasn't quite as magnificent as Ray's.

"Take him to the car," Gene said. "I don't want _anything_ getting this bastard off. You're not to touch him, Ray, understand?" Ray nodded, and he and Chris started toward the car. Alex stared at him.

"Luigi's," she whispered. "I want to watch the interview, but I'll talk at Luigi's." Gene nodded, and she disappeared from his sight. He walked down to the Quattro. This afternoon was going to be awful; he knew that for a fact.

~(*)~

Gene sat across from Rodolfo, murder in his eyes. He flexed his fingers angrily, but did not move to beat the man any. A beating could lessen his sentence. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He knew whose hand it would be, and underneath her hand he slowly started to relax.

"Explain." It was simple, commanding in the one word.

Rodolfo just stared, his brown eyes seeming bored. He examined his hands, and brushed one of the gashes that still showed clearly on his cheek. Alex had cut him deep. Gene hoped it was still hurting him.

"Explain," he said again, more forcefully. Rodolfo just stared at him. Gene stared right back. Eventually he would crack. He would explain everything. Gene pulled a fag out of his pocket as Alex sat on the table. Ray, who still could not see her, leaned forward.

"Best you just tell us mate," he said. "Courts'll be happier with you then."

Rodolfo glared at Ray, but nodded.

"I had planned Alex from the start," he said quietly. "The others... they were just filler. It all started when I was hired by Luigi." He started describing everything in perfect detail, so that Gene could not help picturing the story.

_It was his first night in this wine bar. Luigi had warned him about the coppers who would come down and drink to excess nearly every night. However, the last thing he had expected was the beautiful woman that had entered in with them. He could not take his eyes off of her. She was the best thing he had seen since his Alessandra had died. Alessandra was his bella ragazza, his amore. Rodolfo's heart nearly broke when he heard the woman's name. _

_Alex. Short for Alexandra. He knew in that moment that God had brought him here to have her. However, he knew he had competition. The man across from her, the one that Luigi called Signore Hunt. He knew that Hunt loved her. He could tell that she admired him, probably loved him back. Rodolfo had heard their playful banter while he had been moving between the groups of people. Rodolfo had caught the angry glares from Hunt when he looked at Alex, when he talked to her. _

_But he knew he had to have her. So the planning started. _

_He had another job, one at a company that helped with parties. They were all posh of course. He had been at a party one night, only a few days after seeing Alex Drake. He could not get her off his mind. The shine of her hair, the brightness of her hazel eyes. The curve of her arse in those tight, tight jeans. She had plagued his dreams, had caused him restless nights already. He knew it had to be soon, otherwise he would go mad. _

_It was then that he saw her. A woman, a posh woman with brunette hair in her early thirties. She looked like his Alex. Maybe, he could get Alex off his mind if he had that woman. Rodolfo followed her for the rest of the night, listening to her talk, finding out where she lived. _

_He had gone home that night, and pulled out a map of London. He had mapped out the alleys, the streets around her house and started to watch it on his nights off. He figured out where she would emerge if she was walking home. Then all he did was choose a night, and wait. She had come home late that night, between one and two in the morning. Rodolfo had been nodding off, but he awoke with a start and started following the woman immediately. She hadn't noticed him. He grabbed her mouth so she couldn't scream, and forced her onto the ground. She was weak. She was easy to push to the ground. She was easy to take what he wanted. He had pulled his knife across her throat after he was finished. He had to. She had seen his face, she knew what he looked like. He had run off, and returned to his jobs like nothing had happened. _

_She had not sated his hunger for Alex though. If anything, she had made him want her more. It was torture, to serve her every day, to smell the scent of her without doing anything about it._

_The second and third women had occurred much like the first. Awareness was rising, however, and the third had tried to run. He had tripped her. He loved the feel of his power over her as he again took what he wanted. This time he knew, Alex Drake would be his next target. _

_The next two weeks had been a mass of planning and double-checking. The problem was getting her into an alley late at night. He could not wait for her to work late, that could take months. Finally, he had decided on his plan. After Hunt had left for the night, he would go up to her flat, and ask her to help him take Hunt up to her flat. He would tell her Hunt was drunk, and that Luigi was busy, and he couldn't lift Hunt on his own. When she followed him down, he would take her, out into the alley, and finally, after over a month, finally have her._

_However, even the most carefully planned ideas don't always work out. He heard Hunt saying that she had stayed late at the station. Rodolfo had not seen her come upstairs at all, something he paid close attention to on Monday nights. At half ten, he had pleaded Luigi to go home, complaining of feeling extremely ill. The kindly Italian had let him go home, and that was how the trap was set. He knew the way she came from the station; he had seen it many times when she came over before Hunt did. She would always come from the alley across, which led directly to the street the station was on. _

_So he hid himself, waiting for her to finally emerge. At half eleven, he was finally rewarded. He heard the clack of her heels on the floor, and tensed as she walked past him. She did not notice him, however, and he quickly followed her. He grabbed her mouth, feeling her jump in surprise. He grabbed her waist, and heard her scream into his hand. He saw a figure emerging from the shadows, and he pulled her behind the skip. She fought against him, but he pinched her nose, cutting off her air supply completely. Finally, the footsteps receded and a car drove away. She was growing weaker already from lack of oxygen. As he pulled her out from behind the skip, she tried to struggle, but he forced her onto her back. Both of her hands were free, and one clawed at his face and pulled out his hair before he was able to grab her wrists. She still fought against him, but he knew he was too strong for her to be able to win. Rodolfo watched as her fear turned to tears and she started to beg him._

"_Please," she whispered desperately. "Please don't." Rodolfo paid no attention. He pulled a knife out of his back pocket, and held it to her throat, motioning to her to keep silent. He could tell she wanted to scream, but the primal instinct to avoid death had kicked in. She was silent as he stripped her, body wracked with sobs as he took what he had waited so long for, finding the release he had desired for over a month. _

_Her tears flowed heavier as he stopped, knife still at her throat. "Tell me you love me," he whispered._

_Alex's eyes turned from fear to hate. "Tell me," he said more forcefully. He knew that she knew he would kill her no matter what she said. She tried to release her hands from his grip, but he still held her too tightly for her to move. Her tears stopped, and she stared straight into his eyes, anger and hate hiding the helplessness that he wanted to see. The helplessness he had seen in the other girls._

"_TELL ME!" he yelled. He could feel anger building up in his stomach. _

_Alex stared at him, and her mouth opened. "No," she whispered forcefully. "Piss off." Her voice reflected that she knew she was condemning herself to death. Rage burned inside of him._

"_Have it your way, then," he said angrily. Rodolfo pulled up her head, and threw it against the ground. There was a thud, and she lay still beneath him, eyes closed, breathing weakly. Her face was gorgeous still through the tears and smeared makeup. Her brunette hair curled gently, slowly turning scarlet as blood flowed from the back of her head. He took what he wanted again, and when he had finished, he looked down on her sorrowfully. _

"_I'm sorry, Alex," he said. "But it has to be done." Rodolfo picked the knife up from where it was lying on the ground, and pulled it across her throat like he did with the other three. He then stood, and walked off into the night, leaving the body to be found by the police._

"I took what I wanted," Rodolfo said. "And I don't regret it. But now you've taken me away from her. From that typist of yours...Have you noticed how gorgeous she is?"

Gene Hunt stared at the man across the table, fury welling in his stomach. He was shaking in rage, and struggled to find words. "You...bastard," he whispered. "You _fucking bastard." _He tried to control his fists, which were itching to hit the man... the _thing... _across from him. Gene only resisted because he knew that hitting it could lower its sentence. He looked up to the part of the table where Alex sat. Tears were in her eyes, and she looked at the thing in a mixture of fear, rage and pain. Ray was clenching and unclenching his fists underneath the table, teeth gritted.

"Sergeant," he said. "Come with me." Ray followed, and they left the room. "I'll get Viv to lock it up. Go get yourself a large whiskey from my drawer. Pour me one too. Ray nodded, still extremely tense in anger. Gene walked to the front desk, trying to control his emotions.

"Viv," he said. "Take the _thing_ in interview one to the worst cell we have. Preferably one that hasn't been cleaned for several days."

Viv nodded, and Gene left, walking towards CID. He stared in the interview room, where the thing was sitting still, looking completely terrified. Gene didn't know what had happened to it, but whatever had happened, it deserved the torture.

~(*)~

Rodolfo sat quietly in the interrogation room, wishing they would let him out. He knew they wouldn't. He knew he was going away for an extremely long time. He still didn't regret what he did. He just regretted getting caught.

"_Rodolfo," _said a voice quietly. Rodolfo looked around. There was no one in the room with him. Where was the voice coming from?

"_Rodolfo,"_ another voice said. It was a woman's voice, vaguely familiar. _"Are you sure you don't regret anything?"_

He looked around the room nervously. Where were these voices coming from?!

"_You took everything away from those women," _said a third voice. Was he going mad?

"_Their loves, their happiness, their families, their lives, Rodolfo," _said a fourth voice.

"Who's there?!" he called nervously.

"_You don't remember us Rodolfo?" _the first voice asked.

"_We remember you," _the second said.

"_We'll always remember you," _the third voice called.

"_As will the people we loved. And the city of London," _the fourth voice responded.

"Sh..show yourselves!" he said more bravely than he felt.

"_Okay," _said all four voices together.

Slowly, a figure appeared in front of him. Rodolfo gasped. "Grace....but...you...."

A second figure appeared. "She's dead? Well so am I!"

Rodolfo looked between the women, backing up slowly. A third woman appeared in front of him.

"Why so scared, Rodolfo? You weren't that scared when you killed us!" the woman said. Sarah, he thought her name was.

"Of course he wasn't," said Alex, who had just appeared, her face full of disgust. "He had the power then, had us at his mercy." She knelt down in front of him, reaching into her white jacket, pulling out a knife and holding it in front of him, just in front of his throat. "Now he's at ours."

"Please... don't... don't kill me."

Alex laughed loudly. "Listen to him! He's begging us not to kill him! Did he listen to us?" Rodolfo was sitting in the corner of the room, petrified. Alex pulled the knife closer to his throat, letting it make contact with his skin. "Well, Rodolfo? Did you?"

"N...no..."

Alex turned back to the other women. "He's pleading for his life. How ironic. Still, I suppose it would be worse in prison. What do you think?" she asked the other women.

They all nodded in agreement, and she turned back toward him, standing up and hiding the knife back in her jacket. "You don't have to answer to us," she whispered. "But there is one woman who would _so dearly _like a chat."

Rodolfo let out a small scream of horror when the fifth woman appeared in front of him. "No...not you too."

"Yes," the woman whispered. "How could you, Rodolfo?"

"Her name was Alex," he whimpered. "God sent me to her."

"How many other people in the world have the name Alexandra, Rodolfo?"

"D...dunno. Please, Alessandra..."

"No," she said. "You get to deal with the guilt. You disappointed me Rodolfo. I can't believe you, and now I'm glad I died before I married you."

Her words stung, and tears started rolling down his face. "Alessandra, please."

She stood, and looked back toward the other women. "No. It's our time to move on." She motioned towards the four, and one by one they disappeared, until Alex was the only one left.

"I still have to stay," she whispered. "I have some unfinished business." She smiled sadly and exited the room as the door opened, and the desk sergeant came in, eyes full of hate. He pulled Rodolfo roughly to his feet, and threw him into a stinking, tiny cell which he knew he deserved. And all he could whisper for the rest of that night was "I'm sorry. Alessandra, please. I'm sorry." But she didn't hear his cries, she didn't return. And at that moment, he knew he'd spend the rest of his life in regret.

**TBC**


	12. The Final Journey

**So, the first chapter written is the final chapter posted. To all of you who have read and reviewed, I send out a HUGE thank you! Also a huge thanks to Rolephant, who is brilliant in many several ways and invaluable as a companion as I write. And now, the final chapter. **

**Chapter 12: The Final Journey**

Luigi's was loud that night. Although the station was in a celebratory mood, there was still a black cloud of loss that hung over the atmosphere, keeping it quieter than normal. Gene sat down at the table that used to be theirs. He poured a glass full of Luigi's best wine, and another full of Bollinger. He pushed them across the table, pouring himself a glass of wine. Gene took a sip, swirling the drink around in his mouth, staring at the two glasses across from him.

Alex sat down across from him, smiling softly. She looked like she used to, before this nightmare had happened. There were no tears staining her face, no desperation in her eyes. There was only peace. He smiled at her. The background noise faded until it was inaudible to his ears.

"The case is sealed tight, Bolls," he whispered to her. "He's getting life. He's not gonna get out in forty years either. He'll be in that prison rotting till the day he dies."

Alex smiled back at him, a true smile.

"Even that's too good for him though. After what he did…" Gene found himself struggling to keep control of his emotions.

"Gene," she said, her voice as quiet as his. "You caught him. Before he got anyone else. That's the only thing that matters. Thank you."

They stared at each other, neither taking a drink, neither wanting to break the silence between them.

"Alex," Gene said. "I don't…I _can't_ let you go."

"Gene," Alex replied. "It's over now. You've got to let me go." Her eyes were saddened as she said this, but Gene knew the truth in her statement.

"I don't…I don't want to stop seeing you though. I don't want to stop hearing your voice. The Dictaphone, the photos, it's not the same as a good argument with you."

Alex gave a sad smile. "I know. But you have to let me go, Gene. It's my time to leave. I was only staying through this case, and you knew that too. I want to stay, I promise you, I do. But something greater is calling me, Gene. I'm not supposed to stay here any longer, but I can't go there until you say I can. We'll meet again Gene, I promise. You just have to let me go."

Gene stared at her, tears forming in his eyes. It shouldn't be this hard. But how could he give up seeing her face? Gene cupped his hands over hers, and closed his eyes. This was the last time he could feel her hands, so velvety and smooth. The last time he'd see her soft smile. The last time he'd hear her voice.

"I can feel your hands, Gene," she whispered, voice almost smiling. "I _can feel _them."

Gene kept his eyes closed, rubbing his thumbs on her palms. He said nothing, revelling in the fact that she was able to feel his hands as well as him being able to feel hers. If she could feel, then why was she asking to leave? Why did she want to disappear from him forever? Gene knew that he had to let her go, but he couldn't let her move on just yet.

He opened his eyes and stared at her, drinking in every feature. Her warm hazel eyes, the gentle curl of her hair, the grace of the small sad smile as it crossed her face. The face he could never see again, except for in photos, which did her no justice. Finally, against his will, Gene found his voice.

"You can go now Alex. I'm letting you go. It doesn't mean that I won't think about you every day, or that I don't care about you. Only that I'm letting you move on."

She smiled a sad smile at him, tears glistening in her eyes. "And you can move on too," she said quietly.

"Could never, Bolls. The only bird for me is the posh mouthy sort, and I don't think any other would be dumb enough to fall for me."

"Gene..."

"Go, Alex. The longer we sit here saying goodbye, the worse it's gonna get."

"Thank you," she said, her voice quivering.

Gene closed his eyes again. Her hands disappeared from his. He felt her lips brush on his cheek, her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you," she whispered into his ear. "Goodbye, Gene."

Gene opened his eyes. She was gone. Forever. The background noise returned, as loud as ever, but Gene paid it no mind. He stared across at the vacant seat in front of him, at the untouched glasses of wine and Bollinger on the other side of the table, knowing that no one would ever touch them again.

A single tear fell down his face.

"Goodbye, Alex."

~(*)~

_She stood, staring at the back of him. Finally she allowed herself to walk up the stairs. She saw his Quattro. Alex stopped, remembering the first day she had arrived in this world, how she leaned over the bonnet. Alex ran her hands along the car and stared at the sign that said Luigi's. Tears welled in her eyes as she felt that irresistible tug away from the wine bar, from Gene. She froze as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs before she realised that whoever it was wouldn't see her. She turned and watched as Gene walked up the stairs, head low. Alex stared at the man before her, tears now running down her face, as she finally admitted what she had refused to all along. "I don't want to go," she whispered. But still the tug pulled her, and she was powerless to resist it._

_~(*)~_

**July, 2009**

Molly stood at her mother's grave, staring at the epitaph quietly. It had been exactly one year since that day, since her mother had said goodbye to her for the last time. Molly had felt guilty ever since. Although she had been told constantly that it wasn't her fault, she knew it was.

If Molly hadn't run up to her mum that day, then the marksmen would have been able to get Layton. Then her mum would still be here, and they really would have blown the candles out together. Molly refused to have a birthday cake anymore, or birthday candles. Evan thought she was being ridiculous, but the fact was, she couldn't. The candles that had been on her cake last year now sat in front of a photograph of her mum that sat on her desk.

Molly stared at the gravestone, blinking away tears. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She had come with no one, so she whipped around quickly. Molly stared in shock at the image of her mother standing in front of her. She looked so similar, yet so different. It as though she had just appeared out of the eighties.

Her mum was in a white jacket, dark skinny jeans, black boots, and a blue top. Her hair was different, she had a fringe and it was styled in loose curls. The biggest difference was the electric blue makeup that surrounded her mother's eyes. It made her look so beautiful, so different, bringing her glistening hazel brown eyes to the forefront.

"Mum?" Molly whispered.

"Happy Birthday Molls," her mum whispered, smiling gently.

Molly blinked. The figure was gone. Confused, she turned, only to promptly run into a silver haired man. She looked up, and apologised. His bright silver/blue eyes looked down at her sadly.

"S'ok, love," he said quietly. He held a single flower in his hand. Molly smiled gently. It was a purple azalea.

"That's my mum's favourite flower," she said. _"Was," _she corrected herself inwardly.

"Was my Bolly's favourite flower too," the man said.

Suddenly a loud ring was heard from Molly's bag. Molly pulled out her mobile and grimaced. It was Evan. The man just smiled at her.

"Sorry," she said, over her mobile. "My godfather's worried."

He smiled sadly. "He has every right to be with the scum that walk this city." He walked off without another word as she answered Evan's frantic voice.

~(*)~

**July, 2029**

He had never expected to live this long. Sam had always said that he would get lung cancer from the fags he smoked. For a while he was convinced he would drink himself to death. However, death never came, never extended its kind hand toward him.

It had taken Alex at thirty three, Ray at fifty-seven of a heart attack, and Chris and Shaz just after the millennium in a car accident.

And he still lived on.

Gene knew that his time was approaching. He was ninety-three and the lung cancer Sam had promised had invaded. Gene didn't bother with treatment, even though the doctors said it could add years onto his life. He didn't want treatment. He was too old to care about years on his life. He just wanted to be back with her.

Gene walked to her grave. Even though his memory had started to fail, he still visited it every week, always leaving a single flower on her grave. Every year on her birthday, along with a full bouquet, he'd leave a bottle of unopened Bollinger, and on the date of her death he'd leave a bottle of wine, with the bouquet of purple azaleas. Until Luigi's closed, Luigi would give Gene a bottle of the house rubbish to lay on her grave, as he felt somewhat responsible. He also knew how much she seemed to like the cheap wine he provided, but because Luigi's was gone, he now he gave her something different, something that tasted quite a lot like the house rubbish. Gene had spent the greater part of a year tasting wine and finding the one that was perfect. He knew she didn't care, she couldn't taste it anyway, but there was something inside of him that told him that were she alive, she would love it.

Gene turned from the grave, ready to go back home. He stopped in his tracks however, when he saw the brunette woman standing only a few metres away from him. There was no way. He had not seen Alex in nearly fifty years. Was she coming for him? Was it finally his time? How ironic it would be, Gene thought, to die in a graveyard.

The woman turned and looked straight at him. "Are you okay sir?"

Gene's shoulders sagged in disappointment. This woman looked a lot like Alex, but the eyes were different. Instead of the hazel he had longed for, this woman's eyes were a bright blue. A birthmark was on her left cheek. This was not Alex. And yet, she looked like someone he had met before.

"I'm sorry," Gene said. "You just looked like someone I knew from long ago."

The woman smiled sadly. "Ever since I made my hair this dark brunette, people keep commenting on how much I look like my mother. My godfather gets us confused sometimes. He's got dementia. He can't remember that mum died twenty one years ago."

Gene wasn't sure what to say. He was still shit with relating to people.

"Still," the woman continued, "the doctors said it would have been quick."

"What happened?" Gene asked, truly wondering what had happened.

"It was my twelfth birthday, and mum went missing. They didn't find her for nearly a day. She had been shot in the head. The doctors said that death had been immediate, she hadn't felt any pain. Now, I'm just waiting for my turn. Today's my thirty third birthday. Grandmother was murdered when she was thirty three, so was my mum...I'm sorry, what am I doing? You don't care, do you?"

"No, its fine," Gene said honestly. There was something about this woman that seemed so familiar. "But, you know, you got to keep fighting. My DI fought till the moment she died, and she lived a great life. Didn't let anything get her down," he said sadly, but fondly.

"Is that who you're here to visit?"

"Yeah," said Gene, remembering. "Best DI I ever had. Didn't think that way when she first came in. Posh, mouthy tart, she was. Gave us a bit of a shock too. DI Alex Drake. Not a name you'd expect to see on a woman in those days."

"Alex Drake?" the woman breathed questioningly. "That was my mum's name."

Gene stared at her, confused. "But you're thirty-three. Alex died in 1982. There's no way."

"Molly Anderson. I used to be Molly Drake."

"Molly?" Alex had said something about a Molly on occasion. Gene had always brushed it off as her fruitcake nonsense. "Alex said something about a Molly. But she was twelve... and that would make her nearly sixty."

"I was twelve when my mum died. And her name was Alex Drake." Molly pointed at the gravestone in front of her. Gene looked down and read it.

_Alexandra Drake  
1976-2008  
Beloved Mother of Molly  
And Daughter of Tim and Caroline Price_

"Tim and Caroline Price? Little Alex Price?"

"You knew her?"

"I...I carried her away from the bomb that killed her parents. Alex was there, she tried to save them, but they wouldn't listen. But see, that's the reason you caught my attention. You look just like Alex."

"Yeah. My mum."

"No. My Alex. I know you probably you think I'm some mad old geezer, but it's true." He rummaged in the pocket of his jacket, and pulled out a worn photograph. It was Alex at her birthday party. The last birthday party she had ever had. Their arms were wrapped around each other's waist, and both were laughing. He held the picture out to Molly.

"Bloody hell," she whispered. "That's my mum."

"But she can't be," Gene said. "There's her grave."

He pointed to the grave he had just left. He watched Molly's eyes skim over the epitaph he knew by heart.

_Alexandra Drake  
1949-1982  
__And many a heart by sorrow pressed,  
Might envy her that blissful rest_

He did envy her. Why did he have to keep living when she was gone? It was cruel.

"That's really sad," Molly said. "Did you love her?"

Gene had never talked about his emotions in front of anyone. Not even Bolly, and she was the person he had been the closest to in his life.

"Yeah."

Molly looked at him questioningly. "You've still not told me your name. Not that I really asked."

"Oh right. I'm Gene Hunt."

"You rescued my mum from the car bomb that killed her parents?"

"I wouldn't say that. She ran from the car chasing a balloon. I shielded her from the explosion."

"She never told me about it. I found out from papers in Evan's bureau."

"Evan White?"

"You knew him too?"

"I helped him get custody."

"She loved Evan. She considered him her father, since hers died so young."

Gene smiled softly. "I could tell, that day. I knew that Evan would take care of her. My Alex wanted him to tell little Alex the whole truth. But she knew he wouldn't."

"Mr. Hunt, do you think it's possible that she's the same woman?"

Suddenly, everything Alex had said made sense. Gene wanted to believe it true, even if it meant he was mad. "I have no idea," he admitted honestly. He had absolutely no idea how this could work. "But if she is, I'd like to get to know her mysterious daughter."

Molly smiled at him.

"Did she really talk about me that much?"

"All the time. Always fighting to get back to you."

"But she never could."

"Trying to get back to you was her final journey. And I made an amazing friend along the way. One that changed me in ways I never thought possible."

Molly smiled. "Mr. Hunt, would you like to join me for a coffee?"

"Only if you stop referring to me as Mr. Hunt."

"Deal, Gene."

"C'mon love. Let's go." Gene turned back to the gravestone, looking one more time on the cold stone slab that commemorated Alex's life.

"_I'll be back next week."_

_~(*)~_

_Alex smiled softly, tears in her eyes as she watched her daughter and her lover walk out of the cemetery together. She had always wanted to be with both of them, but in the end had accomplished neither. Gene had let her go, but he had never moved on, and neither had she. After he had let her go, she realised that she could travel freely between her daughter and Gene. But she realised, that although she spent time in both worlds, more and more of it was spent with Gene, and less was spend with Molly. She still loved Gene._

_So she waited._

_She had waited for nearly fifty years, and now Gene was 93, and he was dying. He knew it, and so did she. She wouldn't have to wait too much longer. Alex watched as he looked back toward her grave, knowing his thoughts._

"_You won't be visiting next week, Gene Hunt," she whispered softly. "Next week, we'll be together, forever. And that will be our final journey."_

**Rant**


End file.
